When Mintoff closed the hunting season

The perception that hunters are the natural allies of the Labour party is rooted in the party’s post-1987 pandering to the hunting lobby which first saw Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici referring to hunting as “God’s gift to the poor”, and then the party under Alfred Sant signing an electoral pact with the lobby before the 1996 election.

But this was not always the case. In fact the first major legislative restriction on hunting took place on Dom Mintoff’s watch – prior to 1980, when the first comprehensive law was introduced to regulate hunting – hunters were allowed to shoot all year round and not just in autumn and spring.  

Moreover, prior to 1980, only 22 species of birds were protected. The 1980 regulations included two schedules (birds that could be shot and those that could be trapped), and afforded legal protection to all other species.

As ornithologist Joe Sultana recalled in an interview with MaltaToday in 2009, 1980 was quite an eventful year in the history of local bird protection.

Ornithologist Joe Sultana – the laws were still inadequate despite being heralded as a milestone

It was in that year that engineering works were started to convert Ghadira into the first managed nature reserve, the International Council for Birds Preservation (now BirdLife international) held its 12th European conference in Malta, and new bird protection laws were enacted.

“In spite of being heralded as a milestone, the laws were still inadequate. The list of birds that could be shot still included species such as herons and the egrets, and although they introduced the concept of a close season for bird shooting, this was too short and most inadequate. The problem of lack of enforcement was still glaringly evident,” Sultana said.

Still, the parliamentary debate of the time suggests that back then it was the Labour government and not the Nationalist opposition, which pushed forward restrictive legislation on hunting.

In fact, although both sides approved the bill instituting the close season, it was PN MPs like George Hyzler who cast doubts on it.

Hyzler pointed out in the debate that the drop in Malta’s bird population was not a result of the irresponsible attitude of a few hunters but the disappearance of the fairly extensive marshlands at Marsa and Salini.

To this Dom Mintoff replied that ever since the government had built dams at Marsa to catch rainwater, there was always a supply of fresh water there, which could attract birds “if they are given a chance.”

Hyzler also claimed that he had spoken to many hunters who were apprehensive about the bill and even suggested allowing hunters to shoot at sparrows during the close season.  

Former Labour Justice Minister Joe Brincat – wanted bird sanctuaries

In his reply, then Justice Minister Joe Brincat disagreed, praising the admirable qualities of this bird. Brincat also praised the hunters’ association and the Malta Ornithological Society for being “responsible” and appealed to them to come together and find a “happy balance”. Brincat argued that if birds were destroyed there would be nothing to shoot in the future.

Brincat also disagreed with a suggestion made by the opposition to lower the age of hunting from 21 to 18, arguing that the comparison with driving licences did not hold water.

While acknowledging that hunting was a hobby, he also pointed out that in other countries photography was being used to substitute hunting and that people boasted not of the birds they caught but of the pictures of birds they took from a long distance.  Brincat also spoke of the need of more bird sanctuaries to enable more birds to nest here.

“I have read that a bird which went to a place which it liked would return to that place and look for the same tree and the same branch, from year to year,” he said.

Despite the introduction of the close season and the government’s good intentions, illegality remained rampant. Writing in 1981, young activist Saviour Balzan, while welcoming the new law, complained that the close season existed only in name and as he was writing “shooting goes on in the fields around Attard and elsewhere”. Balzan also proposed the setting up of a small unit of policeman dedicated to hunting infringements.

Hunters take to the streets

It was in September 1983 that thousands of hunters assembled in Rabat to counter a march organised by the Malta Ornithological Society (MOS, the precursor of BirdLife Malta) a few weeks earlier during which hunters threw stones at them. 

Lawrence Vella, president of the Ghaqda Kaccaturi u Nassaba (precursor of the FKNK federation) condemned the stone throwing incident but warned ornithologists to be careful not to insult hunters and trappers.  

He also insisted that hunters did not want to be hindered by a small number of people with binoculars.

The protest also marked a turning point in the hunting debate, with the association commencing its strategy of blackmailing political parties who were called on by Vella to “declare their principles with regard to hunting and trapping in their electoral manifesto.”

Moreover Vella also called for amendments to the law, arguing that “if there had to be a close season” it should be a shorter one and adjusted according to the species of bird involved. He called on the government to change the law because the experience of the past three years had shown that various provisions of the 1980 law were not practical.

The hunters carried placards with slogans mainly directed against the MOS and calling for the legalisation of bird stuffing.  A number of posters compared German conservationist groups which had protested against hunting in Malta to the Nazis.

Alfred Zammit, the secretary of the hunters’ association, disputed the claim that Malta was an important migratory route for birds and argued that more birds were shot at in other European countries.

The Times reported that towards the end of the meeting hunters took away a notebook from a young woman who had to be escorted out of the square by the police.