[WATCH] Yes campaign casts doubt over whether SHout abusers were hunters

Yes campaign keeps insisting that other hobbies are at risk

It will be "interesting" to find out whether the man who verbally harassed a SHout activist this morning was a hunter, Yes campaign coordinator Kathleen Grima said.

SHout campaign coordinator Romina Tolu was verbally harassed by a hunter while she was waiting for a SHout press conference to commence outside St. Helen’s Basilica, Birkirkara, this morning.

"I don't know what happened exactly, but if the activist feels that injustice has been done, she can file a report to the police," Grima said when asked by MaltaToday whether she thinks that SHout have anything to fear throughout the campaign.

She was speaking at a short discussion session in Rabat attended by around 50 people.

"However, I've also heard about other incidents, whereby Yes campaign billboards were vandalised," Grima added, to which the audience cheered.

Yes campaign coordinator Daniel Sciriha reiterated his campaign’s stance that a victory for the No vote could spell doom for other hobbies.

“This is the beginning of something bigger and could lead to the future abolishment of other hobbies like fireworks and fishing,” Sciriha said. “We believe that hobbies are healthy and that people have a right to keep practicing them.

“Spring hunting is a tradition. The density of quail and turtledove that fly over Malta in spring is ten times greater than their autumn numbers.”

He said that turtledove and quail aren’t at risk of extinction in Europe.

“If their populations ever start declining at a worrying rate, the EU itself will prohibit spring hunting,” Sciriha said.

He added that the sharp decline in turtledove populations in the United Kingdom is in no way related to spring hunting in Malta.

“Our spring hunting derogation for quail and turtledove was calculated in terms of the bird populations in the countries-of-origin of the birds that fly over Malta,” Sciriha said. “In those countries-of-origin, such as France, turtledove populations have either remained stable or increased.”

Grima argued that the question on whether Malta has a “right” to apply a spring hunting referendum has already been decided at a European level.

“The European Court of Justice have already discussed this issue at length, and agreed that too few turtledove and quail fly over Malta during autumn, for autumn hunting to be considered a proper alternative to spring hunting,” she said. “Besides, the derogation includes hunting bag restrictions and surveillance by the European Commission.”

She dismissed concerns that the illegal hunting of protected species is widespread amongst hunters.

“Should all doctors be punished if one doctor breaks the law?” she questioned.