The hunters’ federation, FKNK, has claimed that a judicial protest filed by Birdlife Malta a few days ago was nothing but the umpteenth attempt to stop spring hunting in Malta once and for all. 

The hunters’ and conservationists’ lobby reacted to Birdlife’s latest judicial action seeking to halt the spring hunting season until statistical criteria required by law are met.

This was not the first attempt of its kind, rebutted FKNK on Monday, pointing out that it seemed to have become a yearly habit for Birdlife Malta to file judicial acts intended to block spring hunting, thus going against a 2009 decision delivered by the European Court as well as the outcome of the spring hunting referendum back in 2015.

Last year, BirdLife had called upon police authorities to arrest and prosecute those “7000” or so validly licensed hunters who pursued their hobby in spring, said FKNK.

The COVID-19 pandemic had also been cited as another objection in a bid to halt last year’s spring hunting season.

This year Birdlife has claimed that only a small fraction of hunters declared their catches during the previous autumn hunting season and thus available data to determine the opening of spring hunting was insufficient.

But FKNK rebutted that this claim was “unfounded” and that Birdlife was “playing with figures and facts” to paint a different picture based on “wrong interpretations” of the information gathered by the Wild Birds Regulation Unit.

Malta had the “best reporting system” and enforcement was “highly efficient,” the hunters’ lobby group argued, pointing out that real-time reporting by hunters, coupled with spot checks and roadblocks, guaranteed “best available data”.

If facts or information did not please or match some entity’s agenda, this did not mean that such numbers were incorrect.

Birdlife Malta’s allegation was based on “nothing but prejudice against hunting in general,” argued FKNK, calling for the NGO to stop such “manoeuvres” while reserving the right to seek further legal action. 

Lawyer Kathleen Calleja Grima signed the judicial protest.