[WATCH] 'Spring hunting must be banned, not suspended' - Birdlife

Mark Sultana urges government not to risk EC infringement over spring hunting, refuses to rule out second referendum

'Spring hunting must be banned, not suspended' - Birdlife

BirdLife Malta has urged government to ban spring hunting outright, rather than to take the hunting lobby's advice and impose a moratorium on it.

BirdLife CEO Mark Sultana warned that government risks being hauled up to the European Court of Justice by the European Commission for opening this year's spring hunting season.

The government opened the season despite the fact that the turtledove - one of the two huntable species - was declared a vulnerable species by the International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

"This isn't a game; why didnt the FKNK suggest a moratorium during last year's referendum?" Sultana told a press conference outside Castille. "Our advice was always based on clear scientific facts that only the FKNK are undermining. The government should ban spring hunting outright, rather than suspend it and open it again when it is convenient to them.

“Government should be courageous enough to take a decision to ban spring hunting, that will ultimately be supported by half the public who had voted to ban it in the referendum.”

He insisted that spring hunting has an "expiry date" and reiterated that BirdLife will not exclude proposing a second referendum to ban the practice.

"Half the public voted to ban it last year and the chances are that public support for a ban has increased since these new facts came to light," he said. “Many people who voted in favour of spring hunting the last time around did so for political reasons or because they were scared that their own hobbies were under threat.”

Cabinet is reportedly discussing the FKNK’s proposal to impose a moratorium, a measure that its CEO Lino Farrugia described as the “lesser of two evils”, when compared to an outright ban following EC infringements.

“Why didn’t Cabinet discuss a moratorium when it was proposed by the IUCN and [European environment commissioner] Karmenu Vella?” Sultana questioned.