The Federation for Hunting and Conservation in Malta (FKNK) has called for the resignation of Animal Welfare Commissioner Alison Bezzina and Child Commissioner Pauline Miceli, both of whom spoke out against allowing minors to accompany hunters. 

“Both Miceli and Bezzina expressed their personal emotional beliefs when commenting as commissioners in support of BirdLife Malta’s latest anti-hunting campaign to ban children and young people from accompanying hunters during hunting,” the FKNK said in a statement published earlier today.

Earlier this week, BirdLife Malta released footage of a hunter instructing a child on how to shoot a gun in Miżieb. In response, Miceli called for authorities to pass amendments to “close this dangerous gap” in the Arms Act in order to “protect children from physical harm caused by the use of weapons”.

Meanwhile, Bezzina touched on how the act of hunting desensitises children to animal cruelty, even when not handling a weapon, as it taught children that “shooting a bird and causing it to fall to the ground in agony is a cause to celebrate”.

“The latter does not even seem to be aware that the Animal Cruelty Act, by which she is bound, expressly excludes hunting!” the FKNK said in response. 

“Accordingly, the FKNK believes that with such similar official and emotional statements, both commissioners exceeded the threshold and abused their official positions,” it continued.

The hunting lobby also drew comparisons with young athletes using firearms to train for shooting disciplines, including those taking place at the Olympics, as well as the reality that people eating meat at home involves the death of an animal. 

“We don’t need to eat any meat. For children and adults to be able to sit down and eat chicken, they have to be desensitised to the life of the chicken,” Bezzina told Lovin Malta.

“For them, animal cruelty is never about the bird. They claim they aren’t desensitised because they love dogs, cats and other animals. At the very least they become desensitised to the pain of the bird,” she continued. 

For Bezzina, the call for her resignation as Animal Welfare Commissioner is a sign that society has come to expect so little from its ambassadors.

“A lot of people expect the Commissioner for Animal Welfare to be in favour of hunting. We have grown to expect so little that they see my stance as not being fit for purpose,” she continued.

“In my role, I should be expected to be against hunting and if I weren’t, I would not be fit for purpose.”

Moreover, the Animal Welfare Commissioner refuted the claim made by FKNK that she was bound by the Animal Welfare Act, stating instead that it is her obligation to make recommendations to the Animal Rights Ministry, even when concerning the Act.

“The truth is that the law empowers me to make recommendations to the minister, including changes to the Animal Welfare Act and other laws,” she ended.

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