The Coalition for the Abolition of Spring Hunting announced today that the number of signatures on the petition calling for the government to hold a public referendum on the future of spring hunting passed 20,000 earlier this week.

The Coalition launched the petition three months ago and gathered 10,000 signatures in the first two months. The second 10,000 signatures were collected in half that time, as the rate at which people have been signing the petition doubled in the last month.

Spokesperson for the Coalition, Christian Debono, said he believed the petition would continue to gather momentum as it reaches more people, “we are not only getting new signatures on the petition every day, we are also getting more and more members of the public contacting us and asking how they can help collect signatures.”

He added, “passing 20,000 signatures is significant: it is nearly double the number of hunters who registered for this year’s spring hunting season.”

“We still have some way to go until we reach our target of 35,000 signatures required by law for the petition to the government for a referendum to be successful,” Mr Debono, acknowledged, “but we have already shown that there is a sizeable proportion of the Maltese electorate who want the government to start listening to their views on the issue of spring hunting, who want to have their voices heard and their interests represented.”

The Coalition said that it will be continuing its efforts in the coming weeks, with volunteers collecting signatures in public places and the petition form is now available for anyone to download and print, together with guidance on how the form needs to be completed for it to be valid.

The Coalition said that “anyone who would like sign the petition but hasn’t yet, or who would like to help collect the final 15,000 signatures needed before the petition can be presented to the government, can download the blank petition form here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/179605062/Coalition-Against-Spring-Hunting-Referendum-Petition-Sheet-English.”

“The most valuable thing people can do now is print copies of the petition and collect signatures from their friends, family and colleagues in their workplaces,” said Mr Debono.

The Coalition is made up of 13 organisations: Alternattiva Demokratika, Birdlife Malta, Coalition for Animal Rights, Din l-Art Helwa, Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar, Friends of the Earth Malta, Gaia Foundation, Moviment Graffiti, Greenhouse Malta, Nature Trust (Malta), the Ramblers Association of Malta, the International Animal Rescue Association and Malta Organic Agriculture Movement.

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