With the pheasant and partridge shooting season about to come to an end, it is timely to remind ourselves that the game bird breeding season will start soon.

Hidden from public gaze, many thousands of pheasants and partridges used for breeding purposes are imprisoned in cages. Their eggs will be collected, hatched and the resulting chicks (if deemed of good enough quality) will be reared to become next season’s feathered targets for shooters.

Our undercover footage has revealed that not only do these semi-wild birds endure confinement but, contrary to even the most basic government guidance, many are imprisoned in barren cages.

The stress of their confinement is unbearable. Often their frustration turns to violence against each other. The shooting industry’s answer is to restrict these poor birds still further by putting ‘bits’ on their beaks.

Additionally, in 2019, Animal Aid’s undercover team revealed that eggs, and even hatching chicks, were being ground up alive in macerators (which are like giant food blenders).

Animal Aid’s goal is to see an end to the killing of animals for ‘sport’. In the interim, we are pushing for an immediate ban on the horrific cages used to confine breeding game birds.

Readers can help us with this goal by visiting animalaid.org.uk/cagepetition

FIONA PEREIRA

Campaigns Manager, Animal Aid

Tonbridge