Survey shows majority against hunting on spring weekends, school holidays

60% of respondents to a survey carried out by environmental NGO Din l-Art Helwa are in favour of banning hunting on spring weekends, while 64% said that hunting should be stopped during spring school holidays.

The survey is part of Din l-Art Helwa’s ‘Save the Countryside’ campaign. Last week, the NGO published survey results showing that 51% want spring hunting banned, with only 30% in favour of its retention.

55% of respondents aged 16 and over said that hunting restricts access to the countryside for families.

According to the survey results, 50% of the Maltese population walk or take a drive in the countryside at least once a week during the spring season, with the numbers dropping to 44% in the autumn, 39% in the winter, and 31% in the summer.

A whopping 88% of respondents said that Malta should have more protected nature sites. 70% were able to name at least one of the existing protected nature sites and parks in the countryside, and 79% claimed to have visited at least one of them in the past year. 36% claimed to have visited at least one of these sites in the past month and 11% in the past week.

Only 12% of respondents aged 25-34 and 6% of respondents aged 16-24 said that they had not visited at least one of these sites or parks in the past year.

Din l-Art Helwa selected the telephone numbers of its participants using a random digit dialling system, respondents were stratified by age and gender, and interviews were carried out during February.

Their ‘Save the Countryside’ campaign is part-funded by the EEA Grants NGO Malta Programme.