The Federation for Hunting and Conservation - Malta (FKNK) has already pointed out and informed Maltese citizens against falling for BirdLife Malta's (BLM) provocative '#CitizensAGAINSTtrapping' campaign, since this could lead to unwanted legal consequences. This campaign is not only a direct attack on Maltese finch trappers, but also a deliberate challenge to the Maltese Government and FKNK's support for the Citizen Science 'Finch Research Programme', now in its fifth year. BLM is encouraging members of the public to report live decoy finches at trap sites without a properly closed, seamless ring, the presence of which requires close, in-hand inspection, which only the police and authorised officials are permitted to do. No BLM, CABS, MRU activist or ordinary citizen is so authorised and therefore law-abiding citizens should be warned that acting otherwise could lead to illegal trespass, 'pretended rights' or even harassment offences.
Despite the fact that BLM failed in two previous campaigns by 'recruiting' the support of various personalities and even organisations, they have now taken this trapping campaign in that direction again.
During their 2008-2009 "STOP ILLEGAL SPRING HUNTING" campaign, which aimed to "influence" the outcome of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) case against spring hunting, BLM enlisted the support of 13 local personalities, who also wore t-shirts with the words "stop illegal spring hunting" throughout most of the campaign. These persons included a self-proclaimed animal lover, a prominent hotelier, three artists, a journalist, a columnist, an entertainer, two TV presenters, a physicist, a musician and an actor.
The campaign's slogan was deemed incorrect by EU Commission officials at a meeting in Brussels attended by BirdLife International and FKNK officials including the undersigned, as the fact is that whenever Maltese hunters hunted in spring, they have done so in accordance with the law. So BLM had to scrap the slogan for good. But more importantly, the ECJ ruling confirmed that spring hunting was possible by application of correct derogation, and indeed a spring hunting season has been legally opened every year since.
In their 2014 - 2015 Direct Abrogative Referendum campaign, in their next attempt to abolish spring hunting, BLM again 'recruited' several more personalities and also several organisations, both local and foreign, to support their campaign. These were led by a committee of four organisations, namely BLM, Ramblers, the GAIA Foundation and the local Green political party, and ranged from the editor of one of the three local English-language newspapers, and his paper along with the other two; the self-proclaimed animal lover; 12 ENGOs of varying sizes, from less than 10 to around 2,700 members, and agendas ranging from animal welfare to marine conservation to heritage protection; a coalition of 14 animal 'rights' groups; the then newly appointed Archbishop of the Catholic Church in Malta, encouraged by a well-known local anti-hunting TV presenter; a local retired ex-judge of the European Court of Human Rights, supported by 6 local lawyers; the UK's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds; Queen's legendary UK band guitarist and a UK BBC presenter, among others.
The referendum, which cost the Maltese taxpayer over €6,000,000, also confirmed FKNK's position that spring hunting is legal.
BLM should have realised by now that such gimmicks do not work and may only be detrimental to the personalities and organisations involved. Furthermore, BLM must stop imagining that they are above the law and that they have absolute, self-appointed dominion over Malta's wild birds, and come to terms with the fact that anyone and any organisation, including the government and the FKNK, has the legal right to carry out research and studies, including by means of bird-ringing, and to publish any material concerning Malta's wild birds.
Finally, BLM should shed its present shameful and arrogant ways, stick to its original objectives as Malta's ornithological organisation, and accept, even cooperate with, any person or body with a similar interest in Malta's wild birds, in order to enrich scientific knowledge about Malta's wild birds. Lino C. Farrugia FKNK CEO
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