Spring hunting was marred this year by unprecedented violent attacks on birdwatchers. But is the presence of radical anti-hunting lobby groups adding to the tension? Raphael Vassallo on the thin red line between monitoring and provocation
This year’s spring hunting season drew to a close yesterday, leaving in its wake a palpable atmosphere of tension, resentment and brooding violence.
At a press conference at the Phoenicia Hotel yesterday morning, Birdlife Malta and the Committee Against Bird Slaughter’ (CABS) presented graphic evidence of over 1,300 hunting and trapping contraventions observed in the past three weeks alone.
A visibly shaken spokesman for CABS also took the opportunity to announce the latest in a string of violent assaults perpetrated on his colleagues, this time in Dingli.
Biologist Alex Hirschfield described how three of his colleagues were ambushed in their car early Saturday morning by five men wearing balaclavas. The unidentified assailants pelted the car with heavy stones, and after breaking the passenger window, started punching the passengers inside.
No one was seriously hurt, though two of the victims needed treatment in hospital for minor injuries. The incident has since been reported to the police.
Escalating violence In a sense it was an entirely predictable finale, considering the steady escalation of similar attacks aimed at birdwatchers over the past three weeks alone.
Long before the controversial ‘limited hunting season’ got under way last Saturday, crude graffiti had already begun to appear on rubble walls throughout the countryside, complete with swastikas, xenophobic messages (mostly variations of the ‘FAK GERMANY’ theme) as well as the occasional death threat (‘You are joking with your life’ - sic).
Last week two Italian participants in Birdlife’s annual ‘Spring Watch’ camp were set upon and slightly injured by three aggressors in Buskett. A few days later, in a separate incident in Manikata, a car belonging to a BLM volunteer had its back window blown out by a shotgun.
In Delimara last Thursday, another vehicle was targeted by assailants, who hurled a 50lb building block (cangun) at its windscreen. Elsewhere, the umpteenth vandal attack on trees at the Foresta 2000 park in Mellieha only added to the overall image of a situation which has now clearly spiralled out of all control.
And yet, for Hirschfield all of the above represents but the ‘tip of an iceberg’.
“Despite all their good intentions, the police could only deal with a fraction of the illegal hunting incidents,” he said yesterday. “Some of the poachers might have been encouraged by the low penalties that have been given to illegal hunters and trappers in the past years. Apprehending the culprits is only the first step.”
And yet, it a step rarely taken in Malta. None of the attacks outlined above were followed up by any arrests; and while action is sometimes taken against those caught hunting illegally, the resulting fines are at best paltry.
As Birdlife director Tolga Temuge pointed out, there is no system currently in place for the police or judiciary to identify repeat offenders, who therefore face no deterrent when it comes multiple infringements.
Vigilantism? But while attacks on birdwatchers are routinely condemned, public opinion may well be divided over the perception of ‘vigilantism’ currently practised by Birdlife Malta and its international partners.
On Thursday I experienced some of these misgivings first hand, while accompanying a Birdlife’s Spring Watch team on a ‘mission’ to Bahrija.
Blustery conditions made it a slow day for bird migration: apart from a few bee-eaters and one or two splendid golden orioles, the only bird visible for miles around was a solitary fan-tailed warbler, on its customary neighbourhood patrol.
But in the absence of birds to watch, the birdwatchers soon found other things to occupy their attention: two shotgun reports in the distance, as well as evidence of illegal trapping taking place in a field at some distance.
As we survey these activities from a vantage point high on a Bahrija hillside, a local farmer suddenly steps out of a gate giving onto the same road.
“I asked you to go away yesterday, and you didn’t. And now you’re back again today. What do you want? You’re not the police. Who are you, to come here and spy on other people?”
The man is agitated and plainly angry, but neither rude nor aggressive. One of the birdwatchers points out that the land we were occupying was public property, and as such we had as much right to be there as he did.
“I didn’t say it was my property. I just said I want you to go away. Why can’t you go somewhere else? Why do you always have to come here, outside my land?”
“Because this is the area we’ve been allocated by the ALE,” the BLM volunteer replies, adding that hunters had fouled their usual bird-watching area, further up the hill, by leaving the remains of fish and animal entrails.
But the farmer doesn’t seem to be interested in any explanations. “You don’t understand the harm you are causing me. Other people are associating me with you. I don’t want to be associated with you. I’m not a hunter, but I don’t like what you’re doing...”
At this point I ask him if he’s been threatened in any way on account of the presence of birdwatchers (of whom, naturally, he assumes I am one).
“No, no one’s threatened me. But they all give me dirty looks. I don’t want any trouble with anyone. Why don’t you just go away, and leave me alone?”
With that, he turns to leave... but not before delivering a parting shot: “You should be ashamed of what you’re doing. You are harming your own country, harming tourism...”
At yesterday’s press conference I relayed the overall message to Birdlife Malta and CABS. How do they respond to this sort of criticism? Was the farmer justified in arguing that birdwatchers may be overstepping their remit, when they take to monitoring hunters instead of birds?
Tolga Temuge puts the hostile attitude down mainly to the ‘irresponsible’ xenophobic statements uttered in public by representatives of hunters’ associations.
“This is activism. There are plenty of Maltese activists in other countries, protesting against different issues. Just as they have a right to make their voices heard, so do we. But there are also lots of other people – especially farmers – who welcome our presence and what we do, as they have problems with hunters trespassing on their land...”
BLM president Joseph Mangion agrees, but qualifies that none of this would even be necessary if hunters could be relied upon to observe the laws, and if there was enough in the way of law enforcement to begin with.
“Fact of the matter is that the situation is plainly out of control. The hunters were given an opportunity to demonstrate that they can be trusted to observe strict conditions of a limited season, and instead they demonstrated the opposite... what they have done is provide additional ammunition to the European Commission to take Malta back to the European Court.”
Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below. Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.
Search:
MALTATODAY
BUSINESSTODAY
Download MaltaToday Sunday issue front page in pdf file format
