Animal Aid

The Royal princes, William and Harry, have each been sent a gift of a new pack of specially-designed playing cards, whose illustrations reveal the sordid reality of pheasant rearing and shooting.

HRH Prince William
St James's Palace
London SW1A IBS

September 24, 2003

Dear Prince William

Please find enclosed a gift of a new pack of playing cards that have been specially produced by Animal Aid to illustrate, using a direct kind of wit, the ugly reality of pheasant rearing and shooting.

I know you have been brought up to participate in this 'sport' but it is often the case that we can be conditioned to regard as acceptable what, on closer reflection, is entirely unacceptable.

In addition to the cards, I am enclosing some recent Animal Aid reports on the pheasant industry. I hope you will find the time to read them and to reflect upon their contents.

You'll see that our Young Blood report demonstrates that shooting interests are actively recruiting very young children - encouraging them to indulge in killing animals for pleasure. Aside from the animal victims, this cannot be healthy for the individuals concerned, or for society at large. And dressing up these activities as 'conservation' or as 'custodianship of the countryside', is simply not plausible.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Tyler
Director

Take action

• Order your pack of cards from Animal Aid.
  Click here to order now from the online shop.

• Find out more about the pheasant industry.
  Read the reports and watch the video in our special pheasants section.