The Coalition for the Abolition of Spring Hunting held a news conference this morning following its presentation yesterday of 44,376 signatures calling for a referendum of the matter to the Electoral Commission.

Christian Debono described this as a historic moment during which citizens were calling for an abrogative referendum to stop spring hunting.

He pointed out that the coalition was not asking for the abolition of hunting but spring hunting which took place at a time when birds migrated to breed. This would leave hunters with five months of hunting.

By signing the petition, he said, people showed they wanted to be able to use the countryside and enjoy birds. At the moment, he said, hunters had a destructive privilege.

The commission now has 15 days to vet the signatories. Once this process is complete, it will submit the signatures, together with a covering note, to the Constitutional Court, which will then allow three months for opponents to register objections.

AD chairman Arnold Cassola described the initiative as a message of empowerment that people can bring about change.

Animal rights spokesman Simon Galea said that while the two big parties always backed spring hunting, AD had always been consistent in its belief that birds were national heritage for everyone to enjoy.

Carmel Cacopardo hoped this would be the last spring hunting season after which it would be confined to dustbin of history.

One often heard of of agreements between government and hunters, some of them secret but the time had now come to settle accounts.

AD forms part of the coalition.