Haz-Zebbug mayor in impassioned defence of spring hunting

Alfred Grixti warns that anti spring hunting campaign could lead to precedent whereby people collect signatures to hold a referendum to abolish anything that annoys them 

Haz-Zebbug mayor Alfred Grixti issued a passionate call of support for spring hunting during an activity organised by the Yes campaign.

“I am Maltese, and no Germans, Englishmen or any other foreigners should come here and tell me what I can and cannot do in my own country,” Grixti said. “I am not a hunter, but who am I to stop law-abiding hunters from practicing their hobbies?”

He accused the Spring Hunting Out (SHout) campaign of scaremongering and warned that their campaign could lead to an “anti-democratic” precedent.

“Are we now going to start collecting signatures to hold a referendum to abolish everything that annoys us?” he questioned.

In a rare public appearance, Lino Farrugia, the CEO of hunting association FKNK, read a letter of support for the Yes campaign from the European Hunting Federation (FACE).

“FACE have described spring hunting in Malta as an important socio-cultural tradition that combines society and nature,” Farrugia said. “They described Maltese spring hunting as a right that has been upheld by the European Court of Justice.”

FACE have signed up to a three-year project with BirdLife Europe to save 16 bird species across Europe, including the turtle dove.

BirdLife Europe said that the European turtle dove is one of “the most charismatic and endangered species in Europe” and warned that “current conservation measures are not adapted and their populations are in continuous decline”.

The project will study the birds’ entire life-cycle, covering entire migratory routes, analyze threats, and identify better-adapted conservation actions.

However, Yes spokesperson Darren Caruana read out another statement by FACE, insisting that it is “not true that they have signed up for a turtle dove conservation project”.

“That is the over-simplification of a scientific project that is yet to establish the threat of the species identified,” the quoted statement read.

“Turtle dove numbers are declining in some European countries like the UK, stable in others, and increasing in others,” Caruana said. “In the UK, turtle dove numbers have decreased due to competition and agriculture, but not because of hunting practices in other countries.

“7.5 million turtle dove and quail are shot down every year in Europe. If it wasn’t sustainable, then the European Commission would start by abolishing those millions.”

The European Court of Justice, he said, has noted that too few turtle dove and quail fly over Malta during the autumn hunting season for it to be considered a satisfactory alternative to spring hunting.

Yes spokesperson Sylvana Zarb Darmanin accused green party Alternattiva Demokratika of trying to implement their manifesto outside of Parliament.

“It is ironic for AD to say that a yes vote would be anti-democratic, when both the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader have declared that they will be voting yes,” she said. “On the other hand, AD have never won the electorate’s faith and are now trying to implement their manifest outside of Parliament, a manifest that includes their lack of tolerance towards fireworks.

“We believe that the rights and privileges of minorities should be protected from extremists, and we believe that the people will be intelligent enough to vote Yes on Saturday.”