Used as string puppets for political ends

Apart from my letter entitled "Animal awareness", a longer version of which may be found in this blog under the heading "Hunting and morality", today's The Times also publishes a letter from the indefatigable Mark Mifsud Bonnici from the "St Hubertus" hunters in reply to Alternattiva Demokratika's Arnold Cassola. I shall not waste much space commenting on the parts of the letter (most of it) that are inconsequential and evidently an attempt at clutching at straws. I will limit myself to two particular paragraphs that deserve a comment.

Mr Mifsud Bonnici writes: "Prof. Cassola, as often, has let his mind run wild and concludes that the other political parties need to form alliances in order to get votes. For his information the other political parties, unlike the Greens, have the decency to recognise that hunters have a right to practise their pastime and have always accepted hunting as part of Maltese life. Prof. Cassola can rest assured that no hunter supports the Green Party since their vote-grabbing stand against hunting makes this an impossibility. So even if, in the wildest of dreams, his theory is correct I fail to understand his concern".

I shall not delve on the fact that hunters do not have the right to murder birds, irrespective of whether one calls the killing a "pastime" or a "part of Maltese life". It should be clear to anyone who does not derive a perverse pleasure from killing non-human animals that no one has a right to kill any sentient being just for fun. In any case, I have already made a solid case against this "right" to kill on other occasions.

I shall only comment on Mr Mifsud Bonnici's apparent confusion with regards to the "vote-grabbing" issue. What is under dispute is not whether the Nationalist Party or the Malta Labour Party genuinely believe that hunting in spring should be retained. Of course they do, be they the speciesists that they are, and both having hunters or hunter supporters in their ranks. No one is surprised by this. What concerns us at this point in time, and what marks both hunter organizations as particularly naive, is both major political parties' insistence that Malta has any chance of retaining spring hunting. If hunters wish to be fooled by any particular party of their choice, so be it. However, there is no question that it is only a matter of time until spring hunting is abolished in Malta. Sunday's declaration from the EU commission leaves no room for different interpretations.

Mr Mifsud Bonnici also declares that "All hunters form part of either the Malta Labour Party or the Nationalist Party so rather than his (Arnold Cassola) imaginary alliance, hunters, in matters related to hunting, refer to their respective political party's declared stand. It is a known fact, even though Prof. Cassola seems surprised to learn, that both the MLP and the PN are in favour of spring hunting".

Mr Mifsud Bonnici, and all his fellow bird killers, would do well to realize that now that Malta is a member of the European Union, the Nationalist Party (PN) and the Malta Labour Party (MLP) cannot do whatever they please. The sooner hunters, the PN and the MLP wake up from their deep slumber and get a grip on reality, the better for everyone, including the birds they murder and the tax payers out of whose taxes any fines the EU would slam on the Maltese government would have to be paid if any party in government chooses to go on defying the EU and its regulations. And this, dear Mr Mifsud Bonnici, is not an opinion. It is a fact. The EU commission and Alternattiva Demokratika both say that spring hunting has to be abolished. The hunters' organizations, the PN and the MLP say that it can be retained if the government works hard enough. We'll soon get a confirmation about who is lying and who is being used as a puppet on strings.