FACE (European Federation for Hunting and Conservation) was amazed to hear yesterday, Thursday 22 March 2018, the words of Anja Hazekamp, Dutch animal rights MEP. The parliamentarian accused the government of Malta for failing to control the hunting notwithstanding in the spring months. During the round table, the number one of the Maltese Hunters, Joseph Perici Calascione, judged this stance against the smallest nation in the European Union as bizarre.
A national referendum has shown that citizens are in favor of spring hunting, so it is not accepted that impose how to formulate the laws. FACE then recalled how the Birds Directive and the EU guidelines allow the application of this hunting levy, in full compliance with very strict conditions. During the last season the random checks on the authorized hunters were 2351, but the overall number of illegalities was the lowest ever.
This is why Valletta does not accept that there is talk of a lack of control. The issue of Maltese hunting could now be put on the agenda of a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, most likely next May.