The hunting MP: ‘the absurdities that exist in Malta don’t exist anywhere else’ [VIDEO]

Licensed hunter Michael Falzon no longer hunts his quarry in Malta, his spirit dampened by the "absurdities" of the criticism and restrictions hunters face under new limited catch quotas.

In an interview with MaltaToday, which appears this Sunday, Falzon - Labour's shadow minister for home affairs and immigration - is questioned, amongst other things, about whether he agrees with the deployment of more police officers to monitor the spring hunting season.

"Rather than increasing the volume of police officers in the countryside, I would ensure the Administrative Law Enforcement Unit is equipped substantially to be able to carry out its duties," Falzon said of the ALE, a notably understaffed unit that is entrusted with the monitoring of the hunting seasons across Malta.

Falzon says hunters get such a bad reputation that he no longer hunts in Malta. "I haven't been out hunting in Malta for years now, even though I still pay the licence. But I've been abroad to hunt," he said.

MaltaToday asked him about his trip to Argentina in 2009, where the MP is featured in a YouTube video dressed in hunting fatigues with fellow hunters, admiring a catch of over 200 ducks and other birds.

Source: YouTube [contains loud music score]

"I've been to Argentina a few times, even elsewhere in Europe. All legal of course... the absurdities that exist in Malta don't exist anywhere else in the EU," Falzon said.

"One of the reasons I don't hunt in Malta is that hunters are treated like lepers. This is the attitude people have towards hunters, and I feel I don't have to be subjected to this attitude."

Hunting attracts controversy in Malta over incidences of illegal poaching during the Spring season, which is generally banned in the EU by the Birds Directive. Malta derogates from this law by adopting a very low catch limit.

"I've been to the UK where there's hunting all year round. Let me make it clear: I don't agree with any breach of the law. Who shoots protected birds must bear the full penalty of the law," Falzon insisted with MaltaToday.

Falzon has raised the issue in parliament of whether a drone flown over hunting areas by the German conservationists CABS (Campaign Against Bird Slaughter), breached data protection laws. CABS were conducting their regular spring hunting monitoring.

Falzon said he had spoken to a number of constitutional law experts whom he says "expressed serious doubt" on the legality of the drones, a small airplane that filmed hunters on their patch.

But asked how he would deal with the hunting situation if the Labour Party is elected to government and he is made home affairs minister, Falzon said: "This is a matter of the party's electoral programme, so I cannot comment."