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Last Sunday, Opposition leader Alfred Sant appeared to straddle the hunting divide with an unclear position over the issue.
Following the decision to close the spring shooting season 10 days ahead of schedule, it briefly appeared as though a clear consensus had materialised over the matter: that illegal hunting of protected species had to be stopped.
 But it was to be a short-lived hope. For the Labour leader appears to have lost interest in implementing the Birds Directive… which clearly and unequivocally prohibits hunting in spring. Instead, the problem for Sant now lies with the lack of enforcement against illegal hunting, implying that government’s decision had “unfairly” penalised those hunters who observe the law.
The observation is entirely logical… but for the oversight that by allowing spring hunting, Malta is already in breach of the EU’s Birds Directive; so much so, that Brussels has opened infringement procedures against the government over the opening of the spring shooting season for the past four years.
Which is why Alfred Sant’s previous insistence that Labour would observe EU laws on hunting, betrays the somewhat effete pandering to the hunters’ lobby. After all, being serious about the Birds Directive – as Sant had indicated he would be on a recent episode of Xarabank – leaves no room for crying foul at the closure of an illegal spring hunting season, regardless of injustice suffered by law-abiding hunters.
But it was the magnitude of illegal hunting that ultimately spelt the death knell for a lobby which evidently has complete disregard for the law. Day by day, the Maltese public gets to witness its cultural and environmental heritage destroyed by a belligerent mob of vandals, while its right to walk in the countryside is trampled upon by hunters and trappers alike. This is a lobby whose inability to respect the law cannot be tolerated in the slightest… and yet, the Opposition leader suddenly appears to be insensitive to these considerations.
Then again, it’s the votes that make the difference. The Nationalist Party has belatedly tried to placate those disillusioned voters who turned away from the fold precisely because of the government’s environmental record. And now this: Alfred Sant, who until a few months ago had categorically expressed his party’s intention to fully observe the Birds Directive, has decided to spare a few words of comfort for the thousands of hunters whose votes are suddenly up for grabs.
Never a dull moment in electioneering…
In the aftermath of the destruction of the 3,000 saplings in Mellieha, when George Pullicino courageously announced the closure of the spring season, the committee whose recommendations have so far guided the minister on hunting and trapping was nowhere to be seen.
The Ornis Committee is the official body which, at law, advises the minister on the subject of opening or closing the hunting and trapping seasons. Previously, it had conveniently alleviated the minister’s burden by recommending the opening of the spring shooting season. And Pullicino had lost no time in reminding us that, should Ornis favour the opening of the spring season, he would abide by its recommendation.
But on this occasion, there was no Ornis recommendation to push the minister into action. It is evident, therefore, where the real weight lies when it comes to opening and closing hunting seasons.
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