“Initially BirdLife Malta backed up a few of these demands for exceptions, which might seem extraordinary. ...After massive criticism from BirdLife in the rest of Europe, BirdLife Malta now has joined the common European standpoint.”

Ignoring this quote from the Swedish ornithological society Magazine Var Vagelwaerld 5/2001, Geoffrey Saliba in Lip Service To Illegalities (October 23) accuses me of false statements. However, the fact I stated may be verified. I refer Mr Saliba to this website (www.proact-campaigns.net/infoandlinks/id8.html). This website, called Proact, is run by David Conlin, operations manager of the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) now in partnership with Birdlife Malta (BLM). Mr Saliba has only his own partner to blame for publicising the truth about BLM’s “extraordinary” backing of exceptions.

Mr Saliba enquires what the hunting lobby means about serious offences. Clearly, radicalism prevents him from realising that shooting a protected bird is not equivalent to forgetting to remove a rusty cartridge from your car-boot (both offences in the eyes of the law). Yet for Mr Saliba “an offence is an offence” and since rationality is not part of his equation he expects us to take disciplinary action in both cases.

As for “local” polls showing the “majority of the Maltese population” against spring hunting, I recall BLM’s countless pleas to all birders internationally to vote. For Mr Saliba, foreign birders are, it seems, part of the Maltese population. I can quote several such instances that render such manipulated polls worthless.

Following their failed “illegal spring hunting” campaign, ridiculing some of our local “personalities” in the process, BLM now term spring hunting as “not good sport”.

Totally ignoring the ECJ verdict that recognised Malta’s right to derogate, also ignoring BirdLife International’s agreement to honour such judgment, Mr Saliba compounds this deceit by again ignoring the express confirmation of the Commission that this year’s spring hunting derogation “appears to comply with the requirements of the ECJ’s judgment”.

The Birds Directive clearly permits hunting under derogation where there is no “satisfactory solution” in autumn. BLM’s own founder Joe Sultana confirms the scarcity of turtle dove and the restricted distribution of quail in autumn. Yet BLM and its partners cannot fathom the fact that in Malta’s “specific circumstances” good sport is only available in spring.

The present foreign-dominated administration of BLM, obsessed with obeying orders from overseas, obstinately refuses to admit the Maltese reality.

These hard facts confirm all the statements in my previous letter. The resistance to the proper implementation of the Birds Directive in Malta derives purely from BirdLife Malta, whose own associates, in reports never made public, have exposed BLM’s exaggerations.

If “Malta’s reputation will continue to be tarnished”, it is mainly because BirdLife Malta and Mr Saliba see that as the only way forward.