Animal Welfare Commissioner Alison Bezzina has come out against hunting, in a jab at the newly appointed Animal Rights Parliamentary Secretary Alicia Bugeja Said. 

The comments come days after Alicia Bugeja Said, who is responsible for animal rights, welcomed the news that a court allowed the spring hunting season to open as planned. 

In a Facebook post, she said that she is ‘satisfied with the work done to safeguard the traditions that make us Maltese’. 

In response, Alison Bezzina said that, as the Animal Welfare Commissioner, legal hunting was not within her remit as it was not considered cruel according to the Animal Welfare Act. However, she said that, personally, there were only two scenarios when killing an animal could be justified. 

‘If the animal is in distress, and killing them is the merciful thing to do. If your life, safety or health is on the line and dependent on killing an animal’ highlighted Bezzina. 

This year’s spring hunting season for turtle doves and quals opened on Easter Sunday, but was met with much controversy. BirdLife Malta criticised the decision to allow the hunting of turtle dove and tried to stop the season. Turtle-doves being included in the hunting season ended a moratorium on spring hunting for the species which was introduced in 2017 after the European Commissioner threatened legal action. 

The bird is currently deemed a vulnerable species, but a court turned down BirdLife Malta’s request, allowing the season to go ahead as planned until the 30th of April. 

Today (19th April 2022), Alicia Bugeja Said also spoke out against the ‘massacre’ of protected marsh harriers at Delimara, saying that she condemns such an act without reserve. ‘I hope that justice is done against such an act so that those who practice respectfully are not condemned for the acts of those who don’t.’ 

#MaltaDaily