MaltaMedia.com

The government has published a report handed over by the Hunting Federation (FKNK) that shows that the 1,251 special licences issued to bird hunters for the one-week spring hunting season represented 22.4% of registered hunters.

The government said that this was because until 7th April 2010 only 5,583 hunters had renewed their licence. The government said that in 2009 there were 10,788 registered hunters.

The government was reacting to a press conference held by the FKNK earlier on Monday in which hunters gave the Prime Minister until Tuesday to immediately open the spring hunting season for quail and turtle dove until the end of the month.

The FKNK said that they will not accept the government’s ridiculous proposal and are calling for bag limits proposed by the Ornis Committee and the right for all hunters to be able to shoot. The FKNK also said that they would not exclude protests if the government did not accede to their request.

The government reiterated that its proposal was fair in the current situation as it did not want Malta to again end up at the European Court of Justice with the result that a hefty fine would have to be paid from the people’s taxes.