A Maltese hunting lobby has hit back at travel advice issued by the Canadian government warning off potential “stray bullets” for any ramblers looking to check out the island’s countryside.

In an update on the official Canadian state website, the North American country warned of drivers who didn’t respect the law on the roads, and the possibility of being struck by a stray bullet shot by a hunter.

Speaking to Lovin Malta, FKNK President Lucas Micallef said the “extreme” advice was unfair and untrue.

“First off – camping areas are designated and hunting does not take place within these areas, and these areas were demarcated with the local council,” Micallef told Lovin Malta.

“And when it come to the term bullets, in North America, they hunt everything from big bears to so much more, so they use the terminology ‘bullet’ because that’s what they use over there – but we don’t use bullets in Malta for hunting.”

“It’s very likely that the person behind this update is nothing more than an extremist who is using sensationalism and emotions in this regard.”

Micallef questioned whether incidents of people being struck by stray shot from hunters while walking in the countryside were even that widespread

“I ask: in a country with over half a million people, they are going to talk about one remote case, and one that wasn’t even an accident where someone was hurt, but only where someone said they heard some pellets falling nearby…”

“We are scaring people with a taboo that just doesn’t make sense, be it in what they wrote, the technical vocabulary they used, and the argument they are trying to make about Malta.”

“In Canada, people hunt in public parks where people are picnicking,” Micallef ended. “We don’t do that over here, and we don’t do the extreme things they say we do.”