I refer to the letter by Sean Whyte (‘Blasting birds from the sky is not a sport’, The Sunday Times of Malta, May 10) and feel I must respond to the inaccuracies and exaggerations. The reference made by Whyte to “mass slaughter” is designed to sensationalise the hunting issue and discredit Maltese hunters, the vast majority of whom are law abiding.

The number of birds taken during the spring hunting season is insignificant compared with the millions upon millions taken (both wild and reared birds) in other EU countries such as the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Spain. Furthermore, the restrictions imposed upon Maltese hunters are far greater than those applied to hunters in any other EU country.

Whyte makes reference to hunters “spraying the sky with lethal bullets” showing his extremely limited knowledge of hunting practices, as anyone with a modicum of knowledge of hunting practices knows that shot and not bullets are used. Whyte makes reference to Maltese spring hunting quarry species as being “not even Maltese birds”.

As these birds are migratory, spending their lives in and over numerous countries ranging from sub-Saharan Africa to Scandinavian Europe, they can only belong to the country that they are in at any given time. Furthermore, migratory species such as numerous species of duck, goose, snipe, woodcock, quail and turtle dove, are hunted throughout the EU in far greater numbers than the extremely small numbers hunted in Malta.

Whyte states that he would “never set foot on Malta” as a result of hunting. Presumably, he will be leaving Britain as hunting is far more widespread and the number of birds and mammals hunted are far greater than in Malta. In fact, Whyte would be extremely hard-pressed to find a country where hunting is not practised in one form or another.

Whyte makes reference to the image of Malta being tarnished by hunters. The image of Malta is not being tarnished by hunters but by so-called protectionist bodies such as the Committee Against Bird Slaughter, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Birdlife, together with individuals such as Whyte who have no respect for the image of Malta but only care for their own anti-hunting agenda.

Whyte’s implication that tourists could have “blood splattered all over them on holiday” as a result of hunting is at best stupid and at worst preposterous.

How many tourists have had such an occurrence?