The CEO of the hunters' lobby, Lino Farrugia, has suspended himself from the ORNIS committee after an alleged assault on the head of the government's Wild Birds Regulation Unit.

On Wednesday, BirdLife Malta claimed that Farrugia physically attacked the head of the unit, Richard Lia.

Hunters' lobby FKNK dismissed it as a "little argument" that had been blown out of proportion and "has been interpreted as a physical attack".

However, it said Farrugia had taken the decision to suspend himself from the ORNIS committee, which advises the government on hunting issues.

One hopes that the issue is addressed fairly, and no unjust capital is drawn from the incident, it added.

Birdlife had called for immediate action from the government, with Farrugia's “once and for all” suspension from the ORNIS committee.

Farrugia earlier told Times of Malta he had a shouting match with Lia over an item on the agenda, but that he had defended himself from Lia.

FKNK said that while it apologised to Lia if he was offended in any way by what happened, the lobby will discuss the issue internally.

Lia was unavailable for comment on Thursday morning when Times of Malta contacted the Wild Birds Regulation Unit. 

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