In his letter Four Steps To Solving Illegal Hunting (February 24) David Conlin of the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) makes some wild accusations against Maltese society that expose his extremist views more than anything else.

Referring to the reported slaughter of some migrating spoonbills, which we have roundly condemned, Mr Conlin ridicules the Maltese police, likening them to the Keystone Cops. The comparison he makes is unjust. In recent years the police have beefed up their anti-hunting activities considerably and have scored many successes in their fight against hunting illegalities.

Mr Conlin then fulminates against our politicians, declaring they do not have the political will to combat the organised poachers, and arguing that the government’s decision to derogate for limited spring hunting is “in clear breach of European bird protection legislation”. Again, Mr Conlin’s argument holds no water. Though he pretends not to know, everyone knows that the ruling of the European Court of Justice on September 10, 2009 paved the way for an exception to be made by Malta to allow the spring hunting of turtle doves and quails under certain conditions of the EU “Birds” Directive.

Next, Mr Conlin unjustly accuses the hunting federation (FKNK) of doing nothing to protect biodiversity, when everyone knows that the federation has not only declared a policy of “zero tolerance” towards hunters convicted by the courts of shooting rare protected birds but has also started putting this policy into practice by actually suspending the membership of those convicted of such crimes. It is correct to state that the prevention and detection of crime is the task of every police officer. Mr Conlin interprets this to mean that the police should immediately drop the work in hand as soon as some rare bird turns up accidentally on our coast. No doubt he feels that the protection of the occasional straggler to our shores should be given priority over the protection of the Maltese people from robberies, hold-ups, muggings, break-ins, arsons and all the other crimes taking place on our islands. We do not share his idea of priorities.

Soon 68 years of age, Mr Conlin is welcome to keep coming to Malta “to protect birds from the poachers’ guns”.

He should also accept that hunters in Malta have every right to pursue and enjoy their legitimate hunting activities as any other EU citizens who pay their taxes and “accept and respect its laws”. Calling Brussels diplomats “toothless and naïve”, stirring up people’s emotions on the internet against Maltese hunters, ridiculing the Malta police, threatening boycotts against Maltese tourism and appealing for a national uprising against Malta’s hunters have not produced the desired results. Mr Conlin might now wish to take the matter up with the newly appointed BirdLife Malta executive director, who represents a strong organisation, aided by hefty EU financial grants, and supported by entities such as BirdLife International and Greenpeace, thus wielding considerable clout. We wish him success.