A hunter’s dented passion

The spring hunting season starts today but Mark Mifsud Bonnici will not be able to shoot because he still has to collect the yellow armband hunters are legally obliged to wear while in the field. It is not as if Mr Mifsud Bonnici has lost his enthusiasm for hunting, a pastime passed down through generations in his family. He hunts with a 1905 shotgun first used by his grandfather. Mr Mifsud Bonnici is one of about 6,000 hunters who paid €50 for the special spring hunting licence but when the postman delivered the yellow armband nobody was home to sign for it. “I now have to queue at the post office to collect it,” he said yesterday, expressing disappointment at the restrictions imposed on hunters and the government’s delay in announcing the dates for the spring hunting season. On the hunting federation’s online forum, the delivery of the yellow armband by post was the subject of an intense exchange as hunters in different localities reported whether theirs had arrived or not. Mr Mifsud Bonnici’s friend had to be present for the interview with The Times but he could not leave work early, given yesterday was his last day before going out on leave. Obtaining leave was not easy after...