BirdLife Malta said today it is seriously concerned by the possible meaning and intentions behind recent public statements by the Labour leader on hunting and trapping.

In a statement, it said that while Dr Muscat acknowledged that Malta had obligations under EU law to protect and conserve birds, other wildlife and their habitats, he failed to answer questions about how a Labour government would deal with uncontrolled illegal hunting and trapping.

BirdLife Malta’s executive director Steve Micklewright said that hunters and trappers in Malta enjoyed privileges not given to any of their European counterparts and which were prohibited under EU wildlife protection regulations.

Hunters in the Maltese Islands, he said, could legally shoot 41 bird species during the five-month autumn hunting season, compared with just 18 wild bird species that could be hunted recreationally in the autumn season in the UK.

Mr Micklewright said the Labour leader made explicit reference to the situation in France, where 64 bird species could be legally hunted and derogations were regularly applied for the trapping of five species, but not finches.

He said France had an area of 547,030 square kilometres amd only two hunters per square kilometre and nearly 300 breeding bird species, compared to Malta’s 316 square kilometres, at least 31 hunters per square kilometre and only 20 regularly breeding bird species.