May 2022: Bettws Hall, Powys
Bettws Hall had raised breeding cages that were enriched with a laying screen, scratch pad (piece of astroturf) and a piece of wood on the cage floor to act as a perch. Many birds had feather loss on the backs and rumps with small open wounds. Most of the birds had beak masks fitted and most of the females had saddles fitted. There was a dying bird in one cage with several small open wounds.
May 2022: Park Farm, Flintshire
Park Farm had partridge cages and pheasant cages. Many were barren and without enrichment. Two cages contained a dead pheasant. A few partridges were found with bits in the mouth/beak. Most of the pheasants in the raised cages had beak masks. Many of the pheasants in the raised cages had feather loss on their backs, including males. A few partridges also had feather loss on the necks.
June 2019: Bettws Hall, Powys
Investigators filmed eggs and what appeared to be live chicks being tossed into the macerator.
March 2019: Bettws Hall, Powys
Investigators reported: “four dead female pheasants in different cages, including two dead in one cage. Two of the dead birds were visible in the egg trays of the cages but had been left in place. Some of the dead birds has also been cannibalised on the rear.”
May 2018: Bettws Hall, Powys
Our investigators examined 20 pheasant cages and found that 18 of them were barren. Of the other two ‘enriched’ cages, one had a green ‘privacy’ curtain; the other contained a single brick. Inside one of the cages lay a bird dead, and there was a female pheasant with a head wound in another cage. A dunnock was trapped inside a cage trap nearby.
March 2018: Bettws Hall, Powys
Our investigators found that all the cages inspected were barren, in contravention of the Code of Practice. Several of the female pheasants had escaped the cages and all still had beak shrouds fitted. There was a ‘catching up’ trap in the field with about ten birds inside, even though it is illegal to trap pheasants out of season. Our digital thermometer recorded temperatures between 0° and 1° C inside and outside the cages.
June 2017: Bettws Hall, Powys
Animal Aid investigators found pheasants kept in barren cages in contravention of the Code of Practice. One dead bird was left on top of the cages, which is a biosecurity concern under the Animal By-Products Regulations.
A digital thermometer was left inside the cages for 21 hours. It recorded temperatures (in centigrade) in the high 30s and low 40s (up to 41.2°C) over a continuous five-hour period.
June 2017: Natural Resources Wales, Powys
Animal Aid investigators visited Long Mountain Cwm Gwnen shoot and found 35 to 40 dead birds on the land. More birds were stuck in the wire mesh of the release pen, some still alive. They were freed from the mesh and put back into the pen.
May 2015: Bettws Hall, Powys
Animal Aid investigators found stressed pheasants in poor physical condition. The raised units that they were kept in had minimal enrichment – there were no nest boxes or areas for dust bathing.
May 2014: Bettws Hall, Powys
Animal Aid investigators found pheasants fitted with beak shrouds leaping at the wire mesh (‘scalping’). There were dead birds in the cages, which were ‘enriched’ only with one piece of wood and a green ‘privacy’ curtain.