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Hunters decry Green Party’s ‘false propaganda’
Hunters defend Birds Directive’s ‘exceptions’ to Europe-wide ban on spring hunting
5 March 2013, 12:00am
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
1 min read
Photo: David Conlin
Hunters' association Kaccaturi San Ubertu (KSU) accused Alternattiva Demokratika of making "dishonest" claims by saying that spring hunting was illegal according to EU law.
"It is a travesty of the truth directed at enticing anti-hunter voters from the two major political parties. Alternattiva Demokratika is being downright dishonest to the electorate in order to gain political advantage," spokesperson Mark Mifsud Bonnici said.
The Birds Directive allows a derogation from the ban on spring hunting where there is "no other satisfactory solution" to other hunting seasons.
The KSU said that this is an overarching condition for all derogations as laid out in the September 2009 judgment of the European Court of Justice that justified the application of a Maltese spring hunting derogation.
Mifsud Bonnici said other countries have limited catch allowances, such as Austria, Finland, Latvia, and the UK. "The data [OPENS PDF] flatly contradicts the false claims of Alternattiva Demokratika, and can be verified on the last published derogation report for all EU member states. This data pertains to 2008 and was published in 2011.
"All these derogations are being monitored by the European Commission and corrective or punitive action taken should the relative parameters of the Birds Directive be breached. Following the application of three successive spring hunting derogations after the 2009 Court case, the Commission has not acted against Malta and considers that in principle the new legislation appears to comply with the requirements of the ECJ judgment."
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D. Borg
just to have you know, most of the Maltese countryside is leased or privately owned by hunters who unlike yourself have invested in their own bit of countryside or have inherited it from their ancestors that hunted.
hunters and non hunters have never had a problem sharing the public areas of our countryside before your anti-hunting sort appeared.
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"Hunters decry Green Party’s ‘false propaganda’" Hunters decry anything and anybody that brings out the atrocities they are committing. Killing little innocent birds and innocent migrating birds as soon as they hit the island is slaughtering of innocent defenseless creatures. Some hunters also go asea in their fast boats to meet and shoot these innocent creatures before they reach land. Sometimes I wonder how come the patrol boats neglect to see such boats with hunters onboard. No I am not making this up and many citizens know that, but as usual we always seem to turn away from the truth. There is a time and a place for everything and hunting in public places is not one of them. People can get hurt and people should be able to roam the country side without being afraid they are going to get shot by some irresponsible hunter.
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And what do you call consorting with a political party behind closed doors? It stinks very strongly of a Yalta to me
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Dishonesty lies when hunters claim they have 'no other satisfactory solution' when in actual fact they have from September right through January each year wherein they are allowed to hunt alot of birds, not solely tutle dove & quail - not to mention additional months when they are out hunting supposedly wild rabbits.
At this rate if 12 different bird migrates through Malta each on a different month - hunters will demand that they should continue roaming around and littering the countryside all year round.
lastly comparisions with other EU states should also give due weighting to the fact that Malta has one of the highest population denisity in the world - thus the public countryside and its peaceful, safe and sustainable enjoyment be all Maltese families should not be sabotaged by the egoistic hunters' demands (and their political blackmailing) - especially considering their abymissal track record of abuses on nature and persons alike.
AD in parliament will ensure that the spineless PNPL politicians will finally have to heed and prioritise on what is in the interest of Maltese families and economy.
At best the underlying costs of satisfying hunters' taste buds for quail and turtle doves, is too high and expensive luxury, considering the costs to try to uphold the hunting regulations which they keep ignoring with impunity, as also the cost of tourism income, and especially loss of quality time that families can otherwise spend in the PUBLIC countryside.
