‘I had nothing to hide' – guilty cuckoo hunter

A hunter who was today found guilty in court over the shooting of a protected bird has insisted that he had “nothing to hide” and that “all the circumstances were against him”.

“I had seen BirdLife members in the countryside, so why would I shoot at a protected bird in their presence?” Stefan Micallef said in a televised phonecall on the TV programme Realta’. “All the circumstances were against me today but I had nothing to hide.”  

Micallef pleaded guilty in court to shooting down a cuckoo in Manikata on Wednesday morning. However, he told police that he shot it by mistake, thinking it was a turtle dove. He was fined the maximum €2,500, had his shotgun confiscated, and his hunting license suspended for three and a half years. He was also suspended from hunting federation FKNK with immediate effect.

The hunter was reported to have attempted to hide the dead cuckoo but the police located it with the assistance of BirdLife Malta monitors, who supervise the countryside for illegal hunting.

Bob Hook, a BirdLife volunteer, said observers saw the cuckoo flying for 100 metres after it was shot over Manikata and Mizieb. “It went down very rapidly as if it was in in shock. We then heard another shot… we witnessed a guy coming out of the bushes, looking around very furtively, looking for the bird and stashing it in the bushes.”

Micallef insisted that such “mistakes” are “very remote incidents”.

Mark Sultana, a main spokesperson for a recent campaign to abolish spring hunting, said on Realta’ that his campaign’s argument on the widespread practice of illegal hunting  .

“Only two days have passed since the opening of the spring hunting season, no quail and turtle dove have flown over Malta yet, and a bird has already been shot at illegally,” he said. “Hunters have clearly not listened to the FKNK’s warning on illegalities. The hunters’ mask has already fallen off.

“Whether protected birds are shot on purpose or by mistake, the important fact is that it happens. Unfortunately, it’s too late to save this particular bird.”

He said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat took on a great deal of responsibility when he warned hunters, shortly after their victory, that the spring hunting season will not be “business as usual” and that hunting organisations are now responsible for controlling their hunter members.

“An FKNK press release condemning the incident isn’t a solution, ending illegal hunting is,” Sultana said.

FKNK lawyer Kathleen Grima insisted that law-abiding hunters shouldn’t be made to suffer because of the actions of law-breaking ones.

“The FKNK immediately suspended Micalled, showing that we are practicing what we had preached throughout the campaign in the moment of truth,” Grima said. “This case should serve as a lesson for other hunters to pay more attention before making such a mistake.

“However, one must be realistic, and realize that no sector of society is wholly made up of saints and that illegalities happen in every sector.”  

‘Labour Party undeniably helped Yes campaign’ – Mark Sultana

Sultana said that the eventually victorious campaign was aided by Joseph Muscat and his Labour Party.

“Muscat said that he is voting Yes four times, including twice in Gozo,” Sultana said. “Labour band clubs used their noticeboards to encourage people to vote Yes, PL officials warned Labour voters that hunters would not vote for the party in the next election if the No vote were to win, and Labour voters were sent SMSes on the eve of the referendum telling them to vote Yes as Muscat is voting.”

He insisted that Muscat and Opposition leader Simon Busuttil were wrong to have declared their intentions to vote Yes.

“The referendum was brought forward by people, not politicians,” Sultana said. “Muscat and Busuttil knew that their Yes declarations would have been utilised throughout the campaigns, and as such should shoulder a certain degree of responsibility for the Yes victory.”

He said that the SHout campaign’s video of Muscat and Busuttil saying that they were giving the people full liberty to vote as they will was not an endorsement of their statements, but a reaction to the Yes campaign’s promo video clips of the two leaders simply saying that they will vote Yes.

He added that Archbishop Charles Scicluna and tenor Joseph Callleja’s declarations to vote No were incomparable to the Labour machine’s push towards a Yes victory.

“It’s not as though the Church sent out nuns knocking on people’s doors telling them to vote No, and that Joseph Calleja organised a coffee morning to encourage his fans to vote No,” Sultana said. “They simply said that they were voting No and that it is incomparable to the PL’s machine working in favour of a Yes vote.” 

Grima retorted that Muscat and Busuttil, as leaders of parties elected to Parliament by the people, were obliged to disclose their voting intentions.

While she admitted that some people may have voted Yes to be in line with Muscat or Busuttil, she said that “such people are decreasing with time”.

“The Yes vote was boosted when Muscat said that he will vote Yes, but his position was neutralised by Busuttil’s Yes declaration. No polarisation existed between the two parties, leaving the people free to vote irrelevant of party lines.

“The majority of the Yes voters voted Yes because they didn’t want to abolish somebody else’s hobby.”

Sultana was asked about the possibility of BirdLife and FKNK finding a solution to the spring hunting issue “based on balance”.

“At the moment, the Ornis Committee is too imbalanced in favour of hunters, and [Agriculture Parliamentary Secretary] Roderick Galdes is too biased in favour of the hunters,” he responded. “I will speak about balance when things are balanced.”