Hunters and trappers raised concerns about “neocolonial” behaviour by bird protection activist groups at a meeting with Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri, they said on Saturday.

Representatives of Malta’s main hunting lobby, the FKNK, met with Camilleri at his ministry in Victoria.

Camilleri, who is a registered trapper, was given political responsibility for hunting and trapping by the prime minister in 2020, in an unusual move that is being challenged in court by BirdLife Malta.

In a statement, the FKNK listed a number of points that were raised during the meeting: the 2022 spring hunting season; a system that allows for finch trapping, ostensibly for “research” purposes; the regularisation process regarding taxidermy; administrative fines and penalties, which the government had announced changes to just before the election; various FKNK projects; and the “neo-colonialism” of activists from BirdLife Malta and the Committee Against Bird Slaughter.

Hunters have for years downplayed opposition to their pastime as a byproduct of "neocolonial" attitudes by foreign activists.

In its statement about its meeting with the minister, the FKNK made no mention of a raft of poaching offences that were reported during the recent spring hunting season, including the slaughter of tens of protected birds in Delimara, or of issues with the functionality of a self-reporting system for bird catches.

Hunting lobbyists also gifted Camilleri a statuette of a turtle dove made of plaster of paris and clay, sculpted by FKNK member and artist Stephen Fenech.

Turtle dove, which is considered to be at high risk of extinction, could be legally shot and killed during this year's spring hunting season in Malta, despite significant concern at EU level about that.

The hunting season closed on April 30.