|
It was to Julian Manduca that I would email my column every fortnight, practically minutes before the deadline. And it was Julian who would reply with a reassuring “Gotcha!” showing that he was there at the other end. Actually he wasn’t only there for writers sending in late copy. He was there for all of us who learnt of his death and were hit with a sickening sense of loss.
He was there for the environmental movement – one of its forerunners at a time when being green was akin to being alien. Along the years, Julian stayed the course, never compromising his principles or his beliefs. This he did in a quiet, unassuming manner and not with that obtrusive, evangelical zeal of the newly converted.
He thought cars contributed to our pollution problems – he never owned one. He was a great one for recycling – he worked on an educational campaign to introduce compost heaps in many households.
Call it teaching by example, it was the essence of Julian, his steadfast adherence to his ideals. It is what made him unique. In a country where idealism is ridiculed, where, if Martin Luther King had to start his “I had a dream” speech, most people would tell him to swallow a Valium and go back to sleep, Julian was able to hold on to his dreams and hopes for a better world. That he could continue to do so is more than admirable. With his death, we have lost more than a friend and a colleague.
This week some Maltese hunters gave us two very good reminders of why they are their own worst enemies and of how gullible (or worse) the Maltese government was in using up precious bargaining chips during EU accession negotiations in order to secure a derogation for them to be able to hunt in spring.
The first example of the hunters shooting themselves in the foot (instead of anything with wings) came as a response to a campaign by the Belgian Bird Protection Society (BBPS). Having monitored the bird hunting situation in Malta over a number of years, and having been alerted to the fact that it’s more of a daily massacre than a sport or “delizzju” as claimed by the hunters, the BBPS has initiated a campaign for the removal of the derogation which Malta enjoys on hunting in spring.
To this end, the bird-lovers are circulating a petition requesting the European Parliament to lift the derogation. This has been signed by over 160,000 people and not just by a couple of binocular-wearing geeks which is what local hunters consider bird lovers to be. That was bad enough.
But what really irked the Maltese Federation for Hunting and Conservation (FKNK) was Jan Rodts, chairman of the Belgian society, holding up two beautiful but very dead birds, which he claimed were shot down by Maltese hunters.
The birds – a golden oriole and a bee-eater – are both protected species. The FKNK had a fit of the Victorian vapours and practically swooned at what it termed foreigners publicly flaunting our laws and regulations, because, after all “it is illegal to be in possession of protected species”. My reaction to this is was one of disbelief at their brazen cheek. It is ironic that on the same day that the hunters expressed their shock, shock, horror at Rodts displaying two slain birds, a newspaper report informed us that a number of them were to be arraigned for hanging body parts of protected birds from their car rear view mirrors, or dangling them around as key chains. The ripped-off head of a marsh harrier and feathery leg of a kestrel are the car accessories of choice for these hunters.
Besides the fact that this is a disgusting fetish on a par with toilet-seat sniffing (would you tie a desiccated drumstick to your car mirror?) it blasts the Maltese hunters’ attempt to adopt the blushing virgin, prudes-for-legality image, to high heavens. Their choice of macabre trophies is a reflection of their mentality – a sad and barbaric one which glorifies death and killing.
There is a world of difference between hanging a decapacitated bird in your car as a macho manifestation, and holding up two slain birds to be photographed to publicise their plight. I don’t, for a minute, believe that Jan Rodts keeps thousands of dead birds in cold storage, waiting to flash them out to embarrass local hunters. But I know that Maltese hunters are shooting at everything in sight, whether in or out of season, in and out of nature reserves, at all times of day. I know because I’ve seen them and the bloodied bodies of the birds they’ve killed and so has everybody else. Maltese hunters should stop squealing away and threatening to take legal action against anyone who sheds light on their flouting of the law. We’ve had more than enough of their hypocrisy.
Whenever foreigners comment on illegal hunting in Malta, the locals come up with the “people in glass houses should not throw stones” argument, and the letters pages in the papers are full of “Why don’t you stop abortion/foxhunting/bullfighting going on in your country?” missives. Well, this argument doesn’t hold water. It is possible to oppose two things at the same time, and for all you know the foreigner who militates against illegal hunting in Malta, feels equally strongly about banning abortion or foxhunting or bullfighting in their own country. So before Maltese hunters berate English critics as immoral baby-butchers with an inclination for fox-killing, they should consider the possibility that those English people who protest against illegal hunting in Malta, have protested as vehemently against abortion and fox-hunting, and that they are simply pointing out wrongdoing wherever it takes place.
A course mate who was a keen hunter and is now a big shot in some ministry, used to joke and call us moghoz (goats) because we were members of the MOS (Maltese Ornithological Society). During more serious discussions he told me that he believed that the only way to limit the number of hunters was by teaching younger generations to appreciate nature and the beauty of (living) birds. It seemed like a reasonable argument.
The trouble is that it hasn’t worked out that way. The Belgian bird protection group has realised that some of the Maltese children they tried to educate have become hunters, and the number of hunters has increased over 30 years. Probably the love of hunting fostered in the family and the hero-worship of a daddy who swings a kestrel-claw keychain with panache, are stronger forces than any transmitted through an educational campaign.
In view of this, local politicians should finally adopt a zero-tolerance approach to this bunch of bird-blasters. Successive governments have been blackmailed by this supposedly powerful voting lobby for far too long.
The referendum result has shown that the hunters are as influential as your local ganutell or jam-making club and much less pleasant. Lawrence Gonzi and friends might try and think of the rest of us law-abiding citizens for once – the ones who put their personal grievances aside and rallied round and voted for EU accession for the greater good. They should go beyond removing the derogation on spring hunting and impose a moratorium on all hunting for some years. So what if hunting goes into decline? I’d rather that hunters were made extinct than live in a country where birds don’t fly in the sky, but bob along in a beheaded state in some hunter’s van.
cl.bon@global.net.mt
|
