Anti-hunting coalition reaches its target of 35,000 signatures

The Coalition for the Abolition of Spring Hunting has announced that it has surpassed the 35,000 signatures it needs to hold an abrogative referendum to abolish spring hunting.

CASH said that it is considering the upcoming MEP elections in May as the platform for its referendum. If succesfully called, the referendum against spring hunting would be the first time that a referendum has been brought forward by the general public.

A referendum requires at least 10% of the Maltese electorate for it to be valid.

The Coalition said that it is currently verifying the signatures to make sure that there are no double signatures.  It said that it plans to ensure of having more than the 35,000 signatures in order to ensure sure success.

MaltaToday was one of the sponsors of collecting signatures.

The CASH petition is legally demanding an abrogative referendum for voters to decide whether to ban spring hunting as established by EU rules.

CASH had previously said that Malta is currently taking advantage of a clause in the EU Birds Directive to permit the capture of certain birds in small numbers and to allow the hunting of turtle dove and quail.

Spring hunting has been the foremost bone of contention between environmentalists and hunting lobbyists, with the latter arguing that such a referendum would quash minorities' rights.

Earlier this week, hunters lobby Federation for Hunting & Conservation Malta (FKNK) launched their own petition to amend the Referendum Act so as to "protect the rights, interests and privileges for all minority groups." CEO Lino Farrugia also descrived the coalition against spring hunting as an "anti-democratic and abolitionist" act.