Countryside getting less accessible

FOR ONCE both the Federation for Hunting and Conservation and BirdLife Malta are shooting down the same thing. Obviously not a bird, considering the raison d'etre of the latter, but the package on hunting and trapping negotiated so far with the European Union.

The hunters are complaining that they will be allowed to shoot or trap fewer species during spring and that a moratorium is to be placed on new trapping licences.

On the other hand BirdLife is saying that the government is being too accommodating to the hunters and trappers and is not taking bird protection seriously.

BirdLife claim that a larger proportion of the Maltese population are "fed up with the arrogance, disrespect and willful indiscriminate destruction of birds by the majority of Maltese hunters".

This statement counter-claims the FKNK stand that only a minority of hunters and trappers flout the law. BirdLife has proclaimed itself "disgusted" that the government is trying to secure special terms and conditions for the "barbaric destruction" of birds.

Alternattiva Demokratika has also said that the government has given in to pressure from the hunting lobby.

The government is trying to defend its position by trying to please both the hunters and the bird protectors. Not only where the hunters consulted but many of the suggestions were incorporated in the negotiations, Environment Parliamentary Secretary George Pullicino said.

Government's intention to "negotiate a package that would guarantee the tradition of hunting and trapping, and at the same time safeguard protected birds" seems insurmountable as the current outcry from the interested parties has demonstrated.

AD spokesman on EU Affairs, Arnold Cassola, said that the Government's and Opposition's surrender to blackmail from the hunters will have two "kinds of victims".

The first are the ten different species of birds that will be shot down or trapped during the nesting period in spring. The second are the majority of the Maltese population, who will continue to be deprived by the selfish hunting community of the already limited open spaces and countryside available.

A number of people who enjoy walking in the countryside have got in touch with The Sunday Times in view of the current debate and gave us comments and photos.

Walking lately near the Torri l-Ahmar in Mellieha, which is in the vicinity of one of the nature reserves, and in Pembroke one cannot but notice the considerable increase of hunting sheds, one caller said.

Another expressed concern that sites that have FKNK signs will be inaccessible to the public during the hunting season and that no one in authority seems to be taking any interest in the matter.