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In the column ‘What’s with the bully boy tactics’ (November 6), Claire Bonello seemed to imply that Minister for Rural Affairs and the Environment George Pullicino referred to government’s policy on spring hunting in spite of the fact that the occasion was the opening of Birdlife’s Malta reception centre at Is-Simar Nature Reserve.
Any comment, unless put in its proper context, may seem ill-fitting. In reality, Minister Pullicino answered a call by Joseph Mangion, president of Birdlife Malta, for the banning of spring hunting, as confirmed by Mr Mangion himself. “The minister was simply referring to a comment that I had just made about our organisation striving for a ban on spring hunting,” Mr Mangion told this newspaper in the same issue.
The Minister clarified and reiterated the government’s commitment to do all that is possible with the European Commission to apply the derogation in Article 9 of the Birds Directive to keep the hunting of quail and turtledove in spring.
The government is making every effort to safeguard the hobby and culture of local hunters, if hunting is exercised within the parameters of the law.
Ingrid Zerafa
Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment.
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