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Matthew Vella
Tory politician and noted advocate of population control Stanley Johnson is the latest in a series of British and foreign commentators to talk about Malta’s notorious hunting record.
Malta’s reputation as an island of indiscriminate hunters and trappers is growing stronger as more international observers pile up the pressure since the island’s accession into the EU.
Earlier this month, MaltaToday revealed a letter sent by EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas to environment minister George Pullicino saying he had been receiving a “continuous flow of correspondence” from citizens and press articles that give a “worrying picture” of the situation in Malta.
Dimas said he met a delegation of MEPs who were “very concerned about illegal shooting and trapping activities in Malta.”
In his latest weekly Guardian column, Stanley Johnson extolled the majesty of a kestrel that had flown down the chimney of his Exmoor farmhouse, wreaking havoc inside his study. His sister, Johnson wrote, looked disapprovingly at the kestrel, saying they were only waiting to pounce on smaller house martins (hawwief).
“You have to see this in perspective... The house martins have already flown thousands of miles from the heart of Africa. They’ve crossed the Sahara. They’ve survived Malta, where the locals shoot anything that moves. By the time they reach Exmoor, they know how to cope with a kestrel or two.”
Johnson was also a member of the European Commission’s environment department, where he had drafted a directive about species and habitat protection.
“It wasn’t easy to push it through the EU Council – there were Eurosceptics even then – but we persevered. The United Kingdom, of course, already had its own system of nature protection, but the Europe-wide Natura 2000 arrangements have enabled that system to be strengthened and expanded.”
Johnson, a Conservative MEP from 1979 to 1984, and father of Tory MP Boris Johnson, attempted a political comeback in 2005, but failed to get elected.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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