BirdLife activists, some of them wearing marks of the political leaders, this morning called  at the headquarters of the two political parties to hand in questionnaires to the election candidates about their position on hunting issues.

A spokesman for the society complained that when the questionnaire was launched online two weeks ago, only four Labour candidates and one from the PN had replied to their questionnaire on their views on environment issues.

They were Yana Mintoff Band, Mark Sant, David Farrugia Sacco and Anthony Mifsud Bonnici from Labour and  John Zammit Montebello from the PN.

The spokesman said the masks had the words RTO on them to show how hunters had taken over the countryside, and also how the political parties were keeping silent on the hunting issue.

BirdLife said it had received a statement from the PN saying a new PN government would enforce environment laws and allow public access to the countryside. The BirdLife officials said the statement was too generic.

Labour leader Joseph Muscat told BirdLife at a recent meeting that it was up to the candidates to reply.

BirdLife insisted that the voters had a right to know where their candidates stood on hunting and trapping.