Right-of-way lobby slams “big game” signs

The lobby said that the signs announce an activity which is in fact illegal on public ground in the Balearic Islands. It claimed that the people are being discouraged from walking freely down to the sea. “Guaranteeing people the right to access the shoreline around the islands is part of national law,” a spokesman explained yesterday.

The lobby was acutely critical of the fact that authorisation for large game hunting in Formentor had meant the “closure of the road which links the Formentor car park with Cala Murta.” The spokesman said that all that is now left for the public to use is a narrow path which leads from the houses at Cala Murta to the beach.

Hunting he said, should always be carried out in areas well away from ground used by walkers and not the other way round.
The public right-of-way at Cala Murta is reportedly listed as a route of particular interest to excursionists providing walkers with a way down to the sea. “People are being put off using a route which is theirs by right because of signs warning of a potentially dangerous activity,” the spokesman said. “It is the obligation of the hunters to move the large game to habitat where there is no conflict with the public.”