Updated | Hunting federation calls for removal of 'Eyewitness Travel' guide for tourists

The Federation for Hunting and Conservation - Malta (FKNK) has urged the tourism and the transport ministries to see to the immediate removal of a tourist information booklet and to take legal actions against its publishers and relative supporters, on account that it lists ‘hunters’ among its “top 10 things to avoid".

FKNK claimed that "Eyewitness Travel Top 10 Malta and Gozo" contains “extinct fallacies and other misconceptions” and called for it to be removed from all its sales outlets, in particular from the public transport sales channels. 

FKNK rebutted what it described as a “heresy” in the booklet, which claims that  2 to 3 million birds are killed each year by the Maltese hunters.

“Shots-to-kill ratio scientific research, confirmed by BirdLife Malta, has demonstrated that 14 million to 21 million rounds of ammunition are required to achieve 2 to 3 million bird kills. Such amounts of ammunition are never available on the Maltese islands,” FKNK said.

The offensive piece, the hunters said, makes reference to BirdLife Malta, urging readers to seek more information from the group.

FKNK claimed that this was an indication that the article “enjoyed the vivid support and blessing” of BirdLife Malta, condemning the group for its “old tactics and lies”.

“It is amply clear that since BirdLife Malta and their like have now run-out of any new propaganda material, that they are resorting to their old tactics of lies in their strive to achieve their abolition agenda, even to the point of harming Malta's mainstay economy of tourism.”

FKNK spokesperson Lucas Micallef insisted that it was important that the truth comes to light, insisting that damaging false accusations should be avoided.

The booklet makes reference to BirdLife Malta, urging readers to seek more information from the group

In a reaction, BirdLife Malta distanced itself from any confrontation with the hunting community, reiterating that it was high time to sit around a table to initiate a dialogue.

"In this day and age one understands that BirdLife Malta has no control on what hundreds of thousands of tourists experience and write about when visiting our country. To the contrary of what is being implied, for a number of years BirdLife Malta has actually been promoting Malta as a destination for tourists at the UK-based Birdfair," it said.