Birdlife Europe, Gaia Foundation condemn violence on bird watchers

Environmental organizations Birdlife Europe and the Gaia Foundation have both condemned last weekend's violence against bird watchers in Buskett and Birdlife Europe has raised concerns about EU Commissioner designate Karmenu Vella's future role in EU nature protection policy.

Birdlife Europe issued a press statement condemning the acts of violence directed at Birdlife volunteers on Sunday, saying that the government's decision to suspend the hunting season provoked angry backlash from extremist elements in the hunting community. 

"The recent dramatic events in Malta acentuate BirdLife’s questions over the decision by the newly nominated President of the European Commision, Jean-Claude Juncker, to asign the environment portfolio to a Maltese Commisioner, and mandate him to “overhaul” the Birds Directive," the statement read.

"Commissioner designate Vella will have to convince MEPs that he won’t be using his new positon to weaken EU nature protection in order to make life easier for his government."

Ariel Bruner, Head of EU Policy at BirdLife, commented, “We raised the isue from the very moment of Vella’s designation by Juncker. It’s not a thing against Malta or the Maltese: the point is that Juncker is wrong about the ned to overhaul the laws that protect nature in Europe. And on top of that he has given the mandate to do so to a politcian that comes from a government, and a country, that has serious problems in dealing with poachers and violations of nature laws.”

Environmental NGO The Gaia Foundation welcomed the temporary closure of the hunting season following serious cases of poaching and slaughter of highly protected species and lauded police action after Sunday's illegal protest, in a separate press statement.  

It stated that the hunters' judicial protest claiming damages against Government for the closure of the season is not just a lot of hot air, but shows that the hunting community still fails to understand that hunting is not a right but a concession given through a licence, and that hunting seasons can always be reduced or closed at the Government's discretion. 

With regard to the FKNK's claim that such action amounts to collective punishment, Gaia stated that a concession has to be earned by the hunting community, and not taken for granted.

While criminal poachers constitute a minority, law abiding hunters also need to shoulder responsibility and report any and all poaching without delay, which is never done, the statment read. Failure to do so can only indicate that they are condoning such crimes. 

The Foundation also condemned the acts of violence carried out against bird watchers at Buskett, and called upon the authorities to leave no stone unturned to bring those responsible to justice.