Spring hunting: not in my name

This Common Kestrel was recovered with severe gunshot injuries in Bahrija on October 12. Photo: BirdLife Malta.

Separated couples have no right to divorce, gender equality and freedom of expression are questionable concepts, refugees’ rights are trampled upon and gay rights are non existent, but the Prime Minister went on the offensive to defend “our” right to kill wild birds on their way to their breeding grounds.  Swell.

The Prime Minister said yesterday “he would be prepared to go back to the European Court of Justice over the issue of spring hunting to defend Malta’s rights despite the risk of incurring millions of euros in fines”. 

He added: “This was not a question of risk but of rights”.

Would Dr Gonzi please explain the grounds for concluding that hunting in spring is a ‘right’? And, that we all want it?

Would he explain how he feels that he has the right to speak in such terms on behalf of a majority that has said it does not want spring hunting?

The country does not benefit from this ‘right’. What the country would benefit from is action by the government to meet the commitment undertaken to protect biodiversity and its habitats when Malta ratified the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

The UN Convention is legally binding and its aims had to be reached by 2010. Guess what? We failed. 

That’s no surprise to a nation that is subjected to watching its Prime Minister declare it is a national right to kill wild migratory birds in spring.

To add insult to injury, he backs that up with a declared willingness to risk “millions of euros” of taxpayers’ money to defend this ‘right’ at a time when citizens have been complaining of increased financial difficulties.

Are these the actions of a responsible government? Is the opposition’s silence to be understood as an endorsement of the government’s position?  

The message being sent out to the country is that you can demand the irrational and the unjust, as long as you can muster enough people to use their vote for self-interest.

There’s something else that’s rather unnerving. The Times reported “Dr Gonzi said Malta had already won the first case against the Commission over spring hunting”. Yet, this is not what the court ruling states.

Don’t take my word for it. See for yourselves. Here’s thelink. Just click on it and you will see the Court’s conclusion before even accessing the document.

The court’s conclusion states: “it must be held that, by having authorised the opening of a hunting season for quails and turtle doves during the spring of 2004 to 2007, without complying with the conditions laid down in Article 9(1) of the Directive, the Republic of Malta has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive.”

Simply put, Malta did not win the case. The alternative is simply a convenient version of events.

Yesterday, Foreign Minister Tonio Borg spoke of the need for the Nationalist Party “to safeguard its democratic and Christian values” and “adhering to them in a difficult period willingly and convincingly” without being “dominated by any particular category or section of society”.

He obviously wasn’t thinking of birds when he said that or he may have balked at the double standard.

This article has been reproduced on Raptor Politics (UK)

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