Killing birds for fun is not a 'right'

Hats off to Carmel Cilia (The Sunday Times, March 21) for deciding to do away with his shotgun for good.

He was very sorry and feels remorse for all those innocent birds he killed in past years. May many other hunters with a kind heart stop and reflect about the cruelty of shooting those beautiful birds, such as song thrush, skylark, and so on, simply for pleasure.

Then comes David Borg Cardona (March 28) attacking Mr Cilia and defending the "right" to kill birds for pleasure. To Mr Cilia's comment that he saw hunters shooting swallows (a common sight), Mr Borg Cardona said he should have reported this to the police. But hundreds of reports were lodged with the police for shooting protected birds and also in inhabited areas.

Mr Borg Cardona also said that shooting birds at point blank range or shooting at sitting targets was unacceptable in the hunting code. What a joke. What code? So he wants us to believe that hunters do not shoot at birds resting on the ground or in trees and that "nature lovers are not all hunters, but all true hunters are nature lovers". Perhaps one is deemed to be a greater nature lover the more birds one kills.

Hunters should be ashamed of killing birds especially in spring, during the breeding season, whatever their arguments may be. After all, everyone has the right to enjoy seeing birds in the wild. Birds belong to everyone not to a few greedy, heartless men.