Killing on huge scale, taking place for fun (From Daily Echo)

Killing on huge scale, taking place for fun

7:27pm Wednesday 7th September 2011 in Readers' Letters

YOUR readers may be shocked to learn that every year in this country, around 50 million pheasants and partridges are man produced to be used as feathered targets for wealthy ‘guns’.

From hatching, they are confined, in cages, sheds and pens, in which disease and death are a daily feature.

Many birds stressed and frightened are fitted with devices over their beaks to prevent them attacking their cage mates.

About half of released birds die before they can be shot.

They die from exposure, starvation, disease or predation, or run down on the roads. No mother to teach them life skills.

Only a fraction of shot birds are eaten – even proshooting magazines report that many are buried in specially dug holes.

This is killing on a huge scale for fun. It has no place in a civilised society. For a free Anti-Shooting Action Pack, contact Animal Aid on 01732 364546 or go to animalaid.org.uk.

MRS P DIBLEY, Sarisbury.