New polling reveals that most people oppose cruel corvid traps and want them banned.
Commissioned by Animal Aid in July 2026, the OnePoll survey of 2,000 people reveals that most people are concerned with the shooting industry’s cruel treatment of corvids – like crows and magpies – and want to see an end to the relentless trapping and killing of these beautiful, intelligent birds.
The poll showed that:
- 93% agreed it is important that wild birds are able to live freely in their natural environment
- 79% were concerned about wild birds being caught in traps
- 70% would support a ban a ban on the use of cages for the trapping and killing of wild birds by the shooting industry (only 13% opposed a ban)
These results echo the public’s opposition to the shooting industry in general and provide useful material for Defra, which is conducting research to “develop evidence on the animal welfare impact of other traps that have been brought to Defra’s attention”.
We have sent Defra the poll results as part of a paper on the use of corvid traps, and evidence about the lives, emotions and intelligence of these beautiful birds – as well as the terrible suffering they endure from being trapped and brutally killed. We have a considerable body of evidence from our undercover investigations which show how birds suffer; how even basic animal welfare requirements are not followed; and how the traps are used illegally.
Their deaths are made even more terrible by the knowledge that they are killed in order to “protect” pheasants and partridges, who have been purpose-bred to be shot for “sport”.
The shooting industry’s cycle of death involves cruelty and destruction at every stage: from breeding birds incarcerated in cages where they are stressed and mutilated; to the killing of ‘substandard’ chicks in giant macerators; to the wounding, and killing of millions of birds used as feathered targets. Along the way, wildlife is trapped, poisoned, bludgeoned or shot – all to provide a sterile replica of a bygone era when the wealthy would show off their privilege and domination by the numbers of animals they could kill in one fell swoop.
