Birdlife calls out PL and PN for appeasing hunters and trappers for votes

BirdLife Malta expressed its disappointment at what it called the main political parties’ attempts to appease hunters and trappers for votes, to the detriment of the rest of society.

In a press conference on Wednesday morning in Valletta, BidLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana said this is being done to the detriment of the common good, putting Malta at risk of being taken again to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on spring hunting, bird trapping and the illegal killing of protected birds. 

“For the two main political parties, those persons that do not have a hunting or trapping licence are irrelevant. PL and PN both seem alienated from the fact that nobody enjoys the countryside when there are 10,000 hunters with loaded shotguns in our limited natural spaces,” Sultana said. 

Sultana said the PL and PN made sure not to upset the hunting and trapping lobby, to the detriment of society. 

“The lack of courage and spine to stand up and bring forward solutions to control the rampant illegal hunting in Malta is clear. To the contrary PN and PL are both eager to see another spring hunting season, the most unsustainable practice, that goes against the EU Birds Directive.” 

He said the ORNIS Committee, entrusted with advising the minister on matters concerning the conservation of wild birds, will be meeting on Wednesday afternoon and the agenda is aimed at weakening laws.

“As always none of the items on the agenda are related to the conservation of wild birds but rather a way of weakening laws and trying to find excuses to open a spring hunting season on the vulnerable turtle-dove. While all of Europe is protecting this bird from extinction, Malta wants to hunt it down a few days before it reaches its breeding grounds,” Sultana said. 

“While European countries stop hunting seasons on this bird even in autumn, Malta wants to kill it during spring. It is unthinkable, unethical, immoral and also illegal for our country to do this and BirdLife Malta will be doing all it can today to stop this.” 

BIrdLife Malta said if the moratorium on turtle-dove hunting was withdrawn, one would expect the  European Commission to intervene. Sultana said Malta had no justification for the spring hunting and trapping derogations. 

“The political will and political gain of such derogations are not a justification and only show how our political parties have the lowest credentials in bird and nature conservation in the history of our country,” Sultana said.

Sultana questioned why the parties were not creating a Wildlife Crime Unit within the police force and no hunting zones within Natura 2000 sites. He called for bird laws and policies to fall with the Environment & Resources Authority (ERA) and for a solution to be found to end the illegal use of electronic bird callers. 

BirdLife Malta also called for the vetting of the half a million stuffed protected birds. 

“The answer is because we have spineless politicians who work only for the votes of those who care about anything else but their enjoyment of killing birds. That is why the hunters get away with everything they wish for.“ 

Sultana remarked how when four flamingos were shot down at Qawra point, the government had promised the islet would become a no hunting zone, but added that this never materialised. He encouraged all those “with a conscience towards nature and biodiversity” to join and follow environmental NGOs. 

“We urge the people of Malta to voice their concerns on the loss of our natural footprint and the reality of hunting and trapping in Malta.” 

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