Galdes on hunting: ‘Flagrant offence needs proof of continuous, blatant abuse’

Galdes on spring hunting: ‘Flagrant offence means long-term abuse’

Parliamentary secretary for animal rights Roderick Galdes has said that the government will need “proof of continuous and blatant abuse” if the spring hunting season is to be shuttered in the face of illegal hunting.

“The Prime Minister used the clear term ‘flagrant offences’, to explain that any long-term abuse will be dealt with accordingly,” Galdes said today, clarifying the term employed by the OPM when Stefan Camilleri, 43 of Naxxar, was charged yesterday with the illegal shooting of a cuckoo.

Galdes said the government could not be premature in deciding whether or not to close the season.

“We need to see how events unfold throughout this hunting season,” he said, adding that the situation had so far remained calm and that law enforcement was being taken very seriously.

“The government has made it very clear that it will not tolerate abuse, and yesterday’s case has made this very clear,” he said. “The man in question was taken to court on the same day that the case was reported.”

The hunter was yesterday found guilty of the shooting of a protected bird, a cuckoo, in Manikata. Micallef pleaded guilty to shooting down the bird on Wednesday morning, saying 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.

Shortly after the official result of the spring hunting referendum was announced on Sunday, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had warned hunters that he would close the season if illegalities persisted.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Office of the Prime Minister said that if there were “flagrant illegalities the hunting season will be stopped”.

“Nobody caught breaching the law will find any refuge and will have to face the harshest of European penalties for this criminal act. The government’s warning is clear: the season will be stopped if there are flagrant illegalities,” the statement read.