Is hunting wrong?

The majority of people that oppose hunting do so because they consider it cruel. Unfortunately, most people that cringe at the thought of hunters shooting at a quail, dove, duck or woodcock would not bat an eyelid when cooking chicken, turkey or veal nor would they criticise fishermen for an abundant lampuki catch. It seems that for this sort, meat is born in plastic wrapping.

Hunters hunt what in global terms is considered as game. Namely, all those birds and mammals classified as being edible and which due to their healthy and numerous worldwide status are sustainable to hunt. The ignorance in this matter is what prompts people into considering hunting as cruel. Hunters are not endangering any species. In today's modern world, bird science based on global monitoring and data provided by BirdLife International, is being used to distinguish which species can be hunted and which to protect. Governing bodies ensure that each country has its own regulated form of hunting. Malta's hunting activities like that of all other EU countries are regulated by the Birds Directive. All the species hunted and the methods of hunting are in accordance with this directive.

The majority also opposes hunting because of the fact that they associate hunting with the illegal practice of shooting at protected birds. The two are as different as fire and water. Yet people have been conditioned by BirdLife Malta to see no difference. Added to this, the popularity of hunting here in Malta has also been turned into a vile crusade to save our countryside in a bid to gain more public support. For fear of losing such support, Birdlife Malta has never publicly stated its official position about its acceptance of hunting nor has it ever admitted that hunting is mostly practised on private land. On the contrary, they intentionally blame any illegal act on all hunters, making no distinction between those that observe the law and those that do not.

A person shooting at a bird not classified as game, subsequently a senseless killing with no purpose, has to be differentiated from that of a hunter shooting game with the sole purpose of eating it.

Hunting is no different to fishing. If cruelty was the intended reason for such opposition, people should also direct their attention towards fishing. It is definitely more popular, has no closed season, people fish all over the coast and often very cruelly since all small fish are not released but left to die unnecessarily. If illegality were another other reason, than why not condemn the rampant illegal use of seine nets within our beaches, the common use of explosives or the uncontrolled trawling.

The bird protectionist instils the element of cruelty into hunting by amplifying illegalities for the sole purpose of appealing to people's emotions. It is high time any misconceptions are clarified unless of course you happen to be a vegetarian or a Birdlife Malta member.