May: guitar legend, astrophysicist and also ‘colonialist Bambi murderer’

Malta’s hunters’ lobby are so unpopular that rock star Brian May had to make his own statement at a performance last Saturday on St George’s Square, calling on people to vote against spring hunting if a referendum is held.

The response from the hunters? Brian May is a colonialist who forgot to tell his audience about the deer cull on his land. “Bambis, for those only know wild animals from the movies,” FKNK chief executive Lino Farrugia said. “He opted for the massacre of these innocent creatures just because they happened to live on a stretch of land he had purchased.”

Here’s what happened: May was accused of being “hypocritical” when his land management agent licensed a gamekeeper to cull deer on forest land he owns in Dorset.

May, a staunch opponent of badger culling, has affirmed himself against all forms of cruelty to animals.

“But there is a vast difference between culling deer and massacring badgers. The two have very different aims. I acted on the best available advice in allowing deer culling for a limited time on my property, for the health and safety of the herd – and, as an animal rights campaigner, I certainly have no reason to apologise.”

May purchased the 139-acre plot of land, called Middlemarsh, as forest land – he does not live there – and says he was “strongly advised to keep up the existing deer-culling.”

“I was told that the game warden was necessary to take out sick and weak animals to keep their numbers under control. This stops the land becoming over-populated and prevents animals from starving in winter due to lack of food. I was also advised that if I sacked the gamekeeper, the whole herd would probably be killed by poachers.”

This detail would have been enough for the hunters’ federation FKNK to pooh-pooh May’s exhortation to Maltese voters to ban spring hunting.

“In typically colonial fashion, May deemed it fit to remind us that the British always know better… the irony of this statement is that it materialised on none other than the celebration of Malta’s Freedom Day, the day the Maltese proudly regained their freedom from the ties of foreign rule,” Farrugia said in his statement.

“The FKNK has little else to say to hypocrites who feel that they can pontificate to who they see Third World beings – he can save save us his hypocritical views and go back home to ponder on whether he should kill more of Bambi’s relatives.”

MTA chairman's Facebook status

Malta Tourism Authority chairman Gavin Gulia also joined the fray, criticising May in a Facebook post: "I'm no hunter, never held a gun in my hand and never shot one. But I respect minorities, hunters and trappers included. Brian May was invited to Malta to sing and not make any appeals to the people to vote against spring hunting. His comments were out of place and he allowed himself to be used by others."

May replies to critics

Writing in his blog today, May said that “tradition” was used an excuse to justify all kinds of animal cruelty, including fox hunting and badger-baiting, as well as hunting.

“In Malta they have a tradition, held on to by a minority, but a powerful minority, in the face of the bulk of public opinion. They basically shoot all kinds of songbirds, including blackbirds and turtle doves, as they migrate through Maltese airspace.

“Can it be justified in terms of these people being hungry, and needing to eat these small animals? No. Of course not… this is just another manifestation of the vestiges of savagery in Humans - it's done for pleasure. It's no use appeal to these people on the grounds of compassion, or empathy, or even acquiescence to what most people regard as common decency. They have to be stopped by law, and the law has to be enforced.”