The Government said in a statement this evening that it “is disappointed with the approaches and unfair criticism by Birdlife, after the Government used the services of the Army to continue to enforce the rules of hunting.”
“This decision shows that while hunting is allowed under the regulations, the Government is not prepared to tolerate illegalities,” the Government said
“The use of a number of soldiers to guard the boundaries of nature reserves allowed the police to continue with surveillance operations in other areas, making it more effective and to improve enforcement.”
The Government said that the “argument given by BirdLife, that the increase in the number of people monitoring areas means that that there has been an increase in hunting illegalities, goes totally against what BirdLife had previously said about the need to have more people dedicated to enforcement.”
“One wonders what the reaction would be from BLM had the Government reduced the amount of people to enforce the hungting regulations, the Government concluded.”
Photograph – Michela Checchi.