Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1465732
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 APRIL 2022 OPINION 11 even existed to control it. And if the 'lawlessness' excuse was so lame, at a time when the word itself could be taken liter- ally… how much lamer are our excuses today: when the Law – always on paper – actually does provide all the necessary tools, to clamp down on all these re- lentless birdlife massacres, once and for all? So if nothing else, my little po- em does at least indicate that not very much at all has real- ly changed, in our approach to hunting, in well over quarter of a century. When it comes to the part about the 'Pussy-Cat', howev- er… ooh, I don't know. Even as I write this, it occurs to me that there is an entire genera- tion out there – born in a later, more environmentally-con- scious age – that probably doesn't even get the 'Fenkata' reference at all. Not, of course, in the sense that they don't understand the implications – i.e., that poor Puss eventually got served up, as roadkill, under the guise of 'traditional Maltese rabbit-stew' – but because they themselves have no actual memory of a time when that perception really did exist, locally (enough for me to allude to it, so fully confident that all readers would immedi- ately 'know what I meant'…) So, for the benefit of that par- ticular generation – you know: the ones who were never actu- ally warned, before attending a Fenkata, to "make sure they al- so serve the rabbit-head in the bowl!" – yes, actually. It was, ad- mittedly, always much more of an 'urban legend', than a proven, documented fact… … but let's just say that there used to be rumours – however unfair, or malicious – along the lines that 'certain restaurants' would indeed occasionally serve up cat, masquerading as 'rabbit'. (So much so, that if you bother delving into Maltese case-law, you might even find reference to a certain Fenkata-bar owner who once sued his own clients… for making 'Meeow' noises in his restaurant.) And, having made that point… allow me a quick disclaimer (if nothing else, to spare myself from suffering a similar fate). By 'certain restaurants', I do NOT include the one named 'Malata' in St George's Square, Valletta. Leaving aside that it has changed ownership since then (probably, multiple times); and that, as far as I am aware, it nev- er actually had that reputation, even in the old days… the only reason I chose that particular eatery (and not, say, any of the much likelier candidates) is… well, the same as with 'Chivas Regal', I suppose. The rhyme was just too inviting to resist… But back to poor Pussy-Cat's fate: which, with hindsight, is probably the only aspect of that poem that hasn't really aged very well at all. For starters, quite a few people reading this may not even be aware that such 'urban legends' even existed, so recent- ly, in this country. And besides: at a time when certain people take to Facebook, to complain about the fact that lobsters are 'boiled alive', etc… it would not surprise me in the slightest, if some of those same people react to this revelation with 'shock', 'disgust'… possibly, even 'disbe- lief'. Nor can I realistically imagine that any restaurant, currently in operation, would even dream of trying to pull off the same stunt today. Not just because the prac- tice is, in itself, so utterly barbar- ic… but also because the conse- quences, if caught, would simply be too cataclysmic to even im- agine. And this transformation is not even limited to the (admittedly extreme) example of 'serving up cats as rabbits', either. Just like the hunting scenario, there was never any serious legislation to safeguard animal welfare, back in the 1990s: with the result that our treatment of animals, at the time, was often quite simply AP- PALLING. Today, however, it is a different story. Not only have we filled all those lacunae with entities such as the Commission for Animal Welfare; but there has also un- deniably been a culture change, in recent years, whereby 'cruelty to animals' is no longer consid- ered the 'norm'… but rather, an exception to be condemned, and punished, accordingly. In a nutshell: we have clearly succeeded in overcoming our former 'barbarity', in at least some aspects of how we tra- ditionally treat animals in this country. So why, oh why, do we always find the same sort of cultural evolution so utterly im- possible… when it comes to our treatment of birds? Try as I might, I myself see no sense in it whatsoever. But then again: 'The Owl And The Pus- sy-Cat' was all along meant to be 'nonsense', wasn't it? We have clearly succeeded in overcoming our former 'barbarity', in at least some aspects of how we traditionally treat animals in this country. So why, oh why, do we always find the same sort of cultural evolution so utterly impossible… when it comes to our treatment of birds?