1 comment.BirdLife files judicial protest against plans for spring hunting season
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BirdLife Malta is challenging the Government by filing a judicial protest in Court against it for plans to open a spring hunting season for Common Quail without meeting the targets and criteria stipulated by law.
The law stipulates the Government can only open a spring hunting season – which is a derogation from the European Birds Directive – if the previous autumn hunting season was not a satisfactory alternative, BirdLife Malta said.
BirdLife Malta in a statement pointed out this means that a spring hunting season on Common Quail is dependent on the amount of quail hunted during the previous autumn.
“In view of this, the Government obliged all hunters to declare their catches, and hunters are legally obliged to declare in full all their hunted birds.” BirdLife stated that “it was obvious this motivated hunters to not declare their catches and over time the participation level of hunters started dwindling.”
According to BirdLife, “this was accepted by the WBRU and the hunting organisations who did nothing to install discipline within their hunter members to meet this obligation.”
It went on to say that “in 2020 only 292 hunters, or 2.7% of the total of 10,675 licensed hunters participated in the carnet de chasse which obliges them to declare their catches.”
BirdLife Malta argued that “with such a low level of participation, this does not provide sufficient data for the Government to reach a decision and therefore disallows the Government from opening a spring hunting season this year.”
“One notices that Prime Minister Robert Abela continues to appease the hunting lobby. Yet we remind him that he is still responsible to ensure that the law is respected,” stated BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana.
He added that “the lack of participation by hunters in declaring their catches is once again a symptom of the wrong message the Government is transmitting to hunting organisations who have no control of their members.”
Sultana concluded by saying that “it beggars belief that of over 10,000 hunters only 292 hunters declared they shot birds in the five months of the autumn hunting season. Just as it beggars belief that PM Abela refuses to act to see that the basic tenets of the law are respected.”
Photo: BLM/Lars Seorink
hunters ? what a lot of brainless morons . sad ,sad ,sad.