The Minister for Environment and Rural Affairs will be asking hunters’ representatives to guarantee they can get their members to self-regulate themselves, if they want to be considered as the representative body for hunters and trappers.
George Pullicino told hunting lobbyists he expected hunters to get in line those members who were giving a bad name to hunting and trapping.
He added it would be a precondition for organisations to qualify as representations and be granted the processing of the verification of the hunters and trappers catch log-book.
Pullicino said this when asked to divulge the dates of the autumn hunting and trapping season.
The minister said he would do this before the end of the month and had every intention of declaring the dates for the autumn hunting season. He brushed aside accusations of psychological pressure on hunters made by Federazzjoni Kaccaturi u Nassaba Konservazzjonisti secretary general Lino Farrugia as “far-fetched”.
“I have every intention of seeing that bona fide hunters and trappers will have the opportunity to hunt and trap what is theirs by right. But I am also obliged to ensure that protected birds most especially birds of prey are not hunted down. I am sure the hunters’ representatives will agree with me.”
The month of September and the beginning of October are traditionally migrating times for birds of prey such as eagles, harriers and falcons which leave Europe to travel southwards to the African continent.
Large numbers congregate over the Maltese islands and have been illegally shot by a small but resilient group of hunters.