How about a hunting ban?

Sir,

Regarding your article about illegal bird shooting in Tuesday’s Cyprus Mail: last Saturday, I took some friends who were visiting from the UK to the Avacas Gorge for a walk. Already in the gorge were 30 or so French tourists on a jeep safari who had never been to Cyprus before.

Imagine our horror when halfway into the gorge, which must be one of the most beautiful tourist locations on the island, shots rang out from above our heads and there were several hunters on the hill either side of the gorge with large bore shotguns. The shot was raining down into the gorge and the French tourists soon departed back to their jeeps, many I am sure vowing never to come back to Cyprus.

How can this be allowed? Your article mentioned the shooting of crows but the birds falling from the sky looked more like pigeons. The jeep safari drivers who were Cypriots were also alarmed and angry and said they would report the shooting to the police.

We hear that imaginative schemes are needed to boost tourism… how about banning hunting altogether?

John McCafferty 
Paphos

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.