University students’ council against spring hunting

The University Students Council (KSU) has issued an official stand against the derogation on spring hunting, and called on the public to inform itself fully from authoritative sources.

The KSU said that a legal hobby like hunting cannot outweigh the need for sustainability, saying that hunting was not a fundamental right.

The council said spring hunting was against sustainability because the killing of birds returning to mainland Europe from Africa to lay eggs endangered the species’ survival. “As a matter of fact, Turtle Dove numbers across Europe have declined considerably,” the KSU said.

The KSU’s decision was taken by a simple majority of the votes on 26 February within the Social Policy Commission.

In October 2014, the KSU organised a debate between political party representatives, BirdLife Malta and St Hubert Hunters, and on 4 February 2015, a students’ forum discussed the matter, followed by an opinion poll opened to the student body.

The social policy commission concluded that it should take a position against spring hunting.