Available to order for FREE, this leaflet covers both the intensive animal abuse and environment damage caused by the shooting industry.
At one site, red legged partridges were held in raised, barren, laying units – against the guidance in the government’s own Code of Practice. At another location, again, pheasants were imprisoned in barren cages. There, we also found that around half of the female pheasants had masks fitted and that many of the females had large bare patches of skin on their backs from mating injuries. The use of masks is not supposed to be common practice, but the reality is that it happens routinely. The birds have these restrictive devices forced onto them to prevent them injuring and killing each other. The masks are a key indicator of the stress that the birds endure through their confinement and total lack of privacy.
While we complain about increasing heatwaves and struggle to stay cool, thousands of birds used by the shooting industry were suffering inside metal boxes, unable to escape. To the shooters, they are nothing more than commodities. This is best exemplified by the enormous rubbish heap we found at one location, which contained sawdust, droppings and other waste – as well as the discarded bodies of dead birds, crawling with maggots. We have reported the farm in question to the relevant authorities – as this contravenes regulations on disposing of animal by-products and is potentially an avian flu threat – but the sad reality is that whilst authorities take biosecurity seriously, reports relating to the suffering of animals never receive as swift or as robust a response.
The pictures below are a small selection from this year’s investigation – we shall be providing Defra with images and data relating to our investigation from this year when they launch their call for evidence into ‘game’ farms next year.
