A hunter’s proposal for 200 hunters to become “voluntary wardens” to deter illegal hunting was this morning criticised by BirdLife.

BirdLife said in a statement that all law abiding hunters - and not only 200, already had a responsibility to report illegal hunting activities to the police without the necessity of a “voluntary warden” system.

“Mr Fenech Azzopardi’s proposal is actually very similar to the FKNK’s self-regulation system which involves certain hunters reporting illegal activities to the federation instead of the police,” BirdLife president Joseph Mangion said.

“According to Mr Fenech Azzopardi’s proposal, only repeat offenders would be taken up within the legal system.

“This is not a tenable proposal, as nowhere in the world do hunters have such impunity from the law.

“There is no other sector in society that regulates itself in such a way,” he said.

BirdLife also drew attention to Mr Fenech Azzopardi’s acknowledgment that the police were not adequately equipped to enforce hunting laws in Malta.

In spite of this, Mr Fenech Azzopardi’s proposal fell short of demanding better law enforcement and hefty penalties for offenders.

“Let’s call a spade a spade. The hunting lobby is after a so called limited spring hunting season despite the ECJ ruling that clearly found Malta guilty.

“It seems like they think that they can achieve this objective by grossly under reporting the actual number of birds they shoot and now by being in control of law enforcement rather than reporting the illegalities directly to the police,” Mr Mangion said.

It also expressed dismay at Mr Fenech Azzopardi’s claim that BirdLife was working against hunting.

“As a member of the Ornis committee in Malta, Mr Fenech Azzopardi knows for a fact that BirdLife Malta is against illegal hunting and not against legal hunting in autumn.

“We therefore question Mr Fenech Azzopardi’s role at Ornis as an ‘independent’ advisor.

“If law abiding hunters are aware that criminals are damaging their reputation then they should start reporting illegal activities to the police and be prepared to stand as witnesses in court,” Mr Mangion insisted.