And in Cyprus, of course, they’re crowing: “Maltese police hold BBC star for attempting to expose annual bird massacre”
FAMAGUSTA GAZETTE, CYPRUS:
Maltese police hold BBC star for attempting to expose annual bird massacre
• Sunday, 27 April, 2014 – VALETTA
A remarkable blunder for the Maltese government which has endured severe international criticism for failing to clamp down on bird trapping and hunting
IT HAS BEEN revealed that police in Malta detained BBC wildlife presenter Chris Packham for over four hours on Friday after he tried to film hunters slaughtering migratory birds on the island.
According to reports, Packham was questioned in the capital Valetta after filming hunters for his website, but the hunters claimed the footage he shot had ‘breached their privacy.’
The development is being seen as a remarkable blunder for the Maltese government which has endured severe international criticism for failing to clamp down on bird trapping and hunting.
It is estimated that each year that three million birds are shot or trapped on Malta while migrating between Africa and Europe in the spring and autumn. (…)
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First prize to Peter Paul Zammit for being so bloody stupid. He took on a foreign journalist and held him for four hours without charge and as he was jerking off throwing his weight around, did he give one thought to the damage he is doing to our jobs in the tourist industry? Of course not.
These people cannot see past the end of their nose.
Is Manwel Faberge Mallia going to ask for his resignation? Not any time soon.
“It is estimated that each year that three million birds are shot or trapped on Malta while migrating between Africa and Europe…”
I utterly abhor (sport!) hunting with a passion but quotes like this in such reports do detract from the author’s and/or paper’s credibility.
According to this “report” by now there ought to be billions of these slaughtered birds. There is no evidence of such numbers.
Having said that, of course that such barbarity, irrespective of numbers, must be stopped once and for all. There are other things these men can play with.
I am neither here nor there on hunting per se. I have written questioning this figure of dead birds bandied about but what happened to me today is beyond belief. I took my car (a Mazda) to the agents situated on Mriehel bypass at 7.40am.
On my exit I heard gunshots coming from the other side of the bypass. Suddenly I had pellets coming down all around me. Are these shooters not interested in the fact that they are shooting in the direction of morning traffic and people?
You have your answer.
For many of us, it’s no longer about the environment, or conservation of wildlife, but about checking the unbridled aggression and bullying of this all-powerful minority.
No they’re not. And thank God that our “wings” can’t be used for flying or else most of us would become another target for the conservationists.
It is not the first time that I get to my car with pellets falling all around me, or feel them flying just past me. Or whilst driving in the countryside and stopping to enjoy the view, hunters came out yelling at me to leave as it was their territory. It was public land.
Our dear leader deals in votes, not issues.
X’taqa ghan-nejk Muscat.
We reap what we sow. Everyone could see that the PL was pandering to hunters for their votes, but the PN had been there for too long and we needed a change. Let hunters shoot at us – Alleluiah!
I do not understand all this fuss about data protection and privacy in the context of investigative journalism attempting to bring to light violations of the law.
On 15 October 2007 the Court of Criminal Appeal, in the case The Police v. David Sant, had praised MaltaToday for exposing, through the publication of stills of a video that had also been uploaded on YouTube, the violent and illegal actions of a police officer towards a woman driver.
Defence counsel had even attempted to have the video tape expunged from the record as inadmissible evidence, a plea that was roundly rejected by the court. Has the law, or possibly case law, changed that much since that case was decided?