An order for the Wild Birds Regulation Unit to withdraw from an event organised by Kaċċaturi San Ubertu was issued in the wake of complaints filed by the hunting federation (FKNK) to the Environment Ministry, the Times of Malta is informed.

Such order is believed to have been the straw which broke the camel’s back and prompted WBRU head Sergei Golovkin to resign.

Evidence of such pressure is backed by correspondence seen on Wednesday by the Times of Malta. The contents of these e-mails contradict the FKNK’s insistence that it had no part whatsoever in the WBRU’s withdrawal from the educational talk. The event which had to be cancelled at the eleventh hour, was scheduled for March 20.

When confronted by the content of the e-mails, a spokesman for FKNK said: “Talking about the way the circular was worded and whether data protection issues were being transgressed or not is not impeding anyone from participating but just highlighting inaccuracies within a circular.”

According to the e-mails, the FKNK had lamented that the talk was nothing more than an attempt by the WBRU to “promote the KSU [Kaċċaturi San Ubertu]” in the most “underhand and discriminatory” manner.

It transpired that following a series of exchanges, Mr Golovkin was ordered by the ministry to “withdraw its participation” with immediate effect as well any adverts it had issued. The decision was communicated a few hours before the talk, to the point that KSU was forced to cancel the event.

While the ministry justified the decision on the grounds there was no policy regulating the WBRU’s participation in such event, an e-mail seen by this newspaper suggested otherwise.

In this correspondence the ministry said the KSU’s invitation should have not been accepted, as it conveyed the perception that the unit was biased towards a particular hunting organisation.

In a separate e-mail Mr Golovkin had refuted the FKNK’s claims while pointing out that his unit had participated in a fair held last summer organised by the federation. He had also pointed out that as a government unit, their interest was not to promote a specific NGO but to focus on disseminating regulatory information to hunters and trappers.

Asked for his reaction Mr Golovkin on Wednesday declined to comment, saying he had communicated them confidentially to his superiors. 

Instead, he was keen to react to reports that “conservationists rejoiced” at his resignation.

The former WBRU head pointed out that following his announcement that he had also resigned as Chairman of Council of Europe and UN CMS convention networks on enforcement, he received messages of support from international conservation professionals.  “Despite my resignation, I was invited by Birdlife International to make an address at the Global Flyways Summit at Abu Dhabi, due to take place at the end of April” Mr Golovkin said.

“I was specifically asked to speak about an international scoreboard to measure countries’ progress on enforcement against illegal killing of birds. This was an initiative which I pioneered with other colleagues at international level under umbrella of Bern and CMS Conventions, with the support of reputed international scientific and conservation organisations, including European hunting federation FACE and Birdlife International”, he added.

“If the conservationists indeed rejoiced at my resignation, why would top international conservation organizations invite me to speak at one of the world’s prominent bird conservation summits?” Mr Golovkin asked.

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