Arnold Cassola in his letter Hunters, PN and MLP United (January 19) clears "any doubt" and concludes "crystal clear" that hunters have some form of alliance with the PN.

Prof. Cassola, as often, has let his mind run wild and concludes that the other political parties need to form alliances in order to get votes. For his information the other political parties, unlike the Greens, have the decency to recognise that hunters have a right to practise their pastime and have always accepted hunting as part of Maltese life. Prof. Cassola can rest assured that no hunter supports the Green Party since their vote-grabbing stand against hunting makes this an impossibility. So even if, in the wildest of dreams, his theory is correct I fail to understand his concern.

All hunters form part of either the Malta Labour Party or the Nationalist Party so rather than his imaginary alliance, hunters, in matters related to hunting, refer to their respective political party's declared stand. It is a known fact, even though Prof. Cassola seems surprised to learn, that both the MLP and the PN are in favour of spring hunting. Consequently my reference to Simon Busuttil's fairness and consistency regarding spring hunting both as the head of the Malta-EU Information Centre and as a PN member of the European Parliament is in line with the PN stand in favour of spring hunting and not due to any imaginary alliance.

The only alliance that comes to mind, without "any doubt", is the alliance that the local Greens have formed over the years with any NGOs that oppose hunting in a bid to grab their votes. As rightly mentioned in Anthony Formosa's letter of January 15, a shameful alliance that has "damaged Malta's reputation over the hunting issue".

Prof. Cassola in his reply to Dr Busuttil (January 5) finds objection to the "ever-mushrooming hunters' hides (which now number 17)" in the Ta' l-Ibraġ area, stating that the Green "extremists" are not happy to see hunters occupying land. I will not delve into whether these hides are built on private or public land since, as Prof. Cassola explains "the Maltese and Gozitan countryside must be there for one and all to enjoy". However, I would like to ask him to state whether his objection is addressed to the use of these hides for spring hunting since, as he obviously knows, these hides are also used during the autumn/winter hunting season. His reply would indeed explain the truth behind the Greens' stand which, conditioned by its' allies wishes and lured by their votes, would be a total ban on hunting and not the purported stand against spring hunting.