Looks like for some it’s not just a hobby, but a mental disorder
Not in all cases, of course – but when you’re so desperate to shoot at birds that you organise killing trips to protected land in Sicily, there to shoot protected species, you’ve got a seriously bad addiction and need to go into rehab.
Imagine if Sicilians were to organise hunting trips to Malta and tramp all over the protected land at Ghadira shooting protected species. What would we think and how would we react? Well, exactly.
This story (click on the image to read it) is in today’s Times of Malta print edition.
And can we please cut out this rubbish of birds being shot for food? (“He shot for the pot.” “Oh, so that’s all right, then.”). What difference does it make WHY they were shot. What makes a difference is that they were shot at all. Whether they’re eaten, stuffed or left to rot in a field is completely irrelevant.
We have supermarkets nowadays, and salaries and wages, and if we don’t then there’s social security the welfare safety net. The ‘shoot for food’ rationale made sense only when shooting birds for the pot was the alternative to malnutrition or outright starvation. “All the birds were consumed,” hunter lobbyist Mark Mifsud Bonnici says in this report. Exactly what difference does that make to anything?
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Ma jibqax delizzju imma jsir vizzju bhal hafna vizzji ohra hziena.
But thanks to their delizzju they don’t do drugs so it’s all OK.
Well not everyone can afford hunting trips to Argentina, can they?
“He shot for the pot.”
Load of rubbish. All one has to do is enter any local gunshop to see the mentality and the lethal weapons on sale.
Here are a few examples of both.
https://www.facebook.com/innamra/photos/a.293771453968763.78851.213136388698937/781230541889516/?type=1&theater
https://www.facebook.com/innamra/photos/a.293771453968763.78851.213136388698937/733569086655662/?type=1&theater
https://www.facebook.com/innamra/photos/a.293771453968763.78851.213136388698937/592420374103868/?type=1&theater
https://www.facebook.com/innamra/photos/ms.c.eJw9zsENADEIA8GOTmAChv4bOwlCniPvwySOIzVUJICPY6ljVh5rHft1RffCZzAInjW7txqbeO~;h6xrrOrtHXmv~;8cIPI7sgbQ~-~-.bps.a.408623599150214.99165.213136388698937/772452816100622/?type=1&theater
Another advertised ‘ we specialize in Dispersante [scatter] close range cartridges and medium to heavy loads from 30 to 36 grams.’
And all this to shoot a turtle dove for the pot.
Surely a couple of quails, for those with the patience of eating them, bought at the supermarket would cost much much less so let’s stop this nonsense that hunters shoot birds out of hunger.
All they are doing is threatening both quails and turtle doves with extinction.
Hunters claim, erroneously, that theirs is a tradition. It isn’t.
The handful of hunters who could afford guns a hundred years ago used single or at most double barrelled guns which were not as accurate or devastating as today’s weapons.
Hunters have made hunting unsustainable through their own greed. Their egoism and arrogance has done the rest.
I believe that the law only permits single or double bestseller shotguns. Other types of guns are illegal
The other day I was at the local grocer’s shop and there was a conversation going on about the upcoming referendum.
Everyone present agreed that hunting is almost a fixation for hunters. Someone even said that he knew someone who shot his dog then himself after the season was closed prematurely. I said that I could confirm this myself, having seen plenty of people at Mount Carmel Hospital with suicidal ideation after a season is closed earlier than usual.
So someone else said that they’ll be voting in favour as they prize a man’s life over a bird’s and yet another said that they’re not hunters but why should they deprive others of their hobby?
I said that I’ll be voting against hunting because of conservation issues. A bright spark said that Malta is very small so we don’t get large numbers of doves passing over us and the damage is not as great as we are led to believe. Besides, hunters have a limit on the number of birds they can shoot.
I tried again by saying that hunters do not declare all their kills and besides it’s a cover for illegal hunting. I was told that illegal hunting is already punished.
At this point I could see that any further discussion would be futile so I paid for my groceries and left.
We’ll have spring hunting again next year.
Regarding mental disorders, the last time Mizzi was asked how he intended to restrict the abuse, his answer was to mumble how everyone has the right to their ‘delizzju’.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2015-01-21/local-news/Mizzi-says-discussions-under-way-to-avoid-repeat-of-recent-horse-related-incidents-6736129192
He really doesn’t have to do anything, just enforce the law.
Try resisting smoking a simple cigarette. Or a drink. Same principle applies (unfortunately). I employ a couple of men, some of the most trustworthy of employees, but those of them that are (avid) hunters, touch their ‘hobby’ and it is like a death sentence to them.
I have written to Simon Busuttil to express my disappointment at his stance on spring hunting. I have decided to copy this to you – maybe others too may want to write.
Dr Busuttil,
Qed nikteb biex nesprimi d-dizappunt u d-dizilluzjoni tieghi u ta’ hafna ohrajn fuq id-decizjoni tieghek li tivvota favur il-kontinwazzjoni tad-deroga fuq il-kacca fir-rebbiegha. Bhal hafna ohra inhoss li din id-decizjoni, ghalkemm ghidtilna mod iehor, hi ibbazata fuq kalkolu politiku.
Jien nemmen li dan kalkolu zbaljat, imma anke jekk mhux, konvint li din decizjoni li lill-pajjiz hsara sejra taghmillu mhux gid. L-aghsafar la jmorru ma jergghux jigu – qed nitkellem fuq l-estinzjoni – u b’di d-decizjoni qed nghidu li ahna l-interess kollettiv ta’ l-Ewropa u tar-regjun li ahna parti minnhom ma tantx nistmawh.
Ir-reputazzjoni ta’ Malta gratilha hafna hsara minhabba l-kacca, u kollha kemm ahna naraw kif bl-iskuza tad-deroga ssir hafna kacca illegali. Rajna wkoll kemm hemm kaccaturi – mhux kollha, veru, imma mhux wiehed jew tnejn anqas – lesti li juzaw il-vjolenza u jgibu ruhhom b’mod tassew aggressiv.
Decizjoni bhal tieghek tinkoraggihom, ghax qed tghidilhom li jekk igibu ruhhom b’da l-mod tghaddi taghhom. Fuq din you have let us down, badly.
Victor Pace
Attakk fahxi etc. Blogger prominenti b’rabtiet ma’ — woops, issa anke huma favur il-kacca, mela delete this bit — Blogger prominenti fullstop “tinsulenta” lill-kaccaturi billi tghajjarhom li huma morda mentali. Il-Prim Ministru u Mexxej tal-etc etc u l-Kap tal-Oppozizzjoni u Kap tal-etc etc inghaqdu biex jikkundannaw dan l-attakk personali.
Actually many claimed to suffer from depression when they were not allowed to trap any more. Whenever you meet anyone who used to trap in bygone times they we always claim that they suffered from depression afterwards.
Must be truly a mental disorder.
I totally agree that this is some form of addiction or mental disorder.
To a certain extent the same applies to trappers – who are usually the same people as hunters.
Although it is something I’ve seen for the better part of my life, it still seems odd to see a grown man walk around with a cage in his hand and a little bird in it.
However, whilst I don’t believe that they “shoot for the pot” and that it is the thrill of killing something that gets them out of bed at unearthly hours, I’m not sure I agree with the statement that it is the same as leaving the birds rot in the fields. Otherwise the same would apply to those who go fishing and eat their fish.
Just to be clear, I abhor the concept of hunting be it spring or autumn and wish that this referendum was not just about abolishing it in spring. However at the minimum even if we had to accept that they were shooting for the pot, then it should only be dish served in the autumn.