Close encounter of the bird kind got me thinking
I CAN'T help feeling there must be something wrong with someone who enjoys killing things.
But the shooting of pheasants and other birds is big business in Mid Devon and elsewhere, with millions reared for this purpose.
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Pheasants have little understanding of the Highway Code
They are generally hatched indoors, then set loose in the autumn for the winter shooting season, to be shot by bankers and other English country gentlemen-wannabes.
These are not wild birds, but ones bred for the purpose, with many kept in battery-style cages with wire floors.
Unsurprisingly, the birds struggle when thrust into the country, as any driver who has encountered the small-brained creatures wandering, suicidally, on country roads, will know.
After all, how would you cope with the Highway Code if you'd spent all your life in a cupboard, before being dumped in a wood on the side of a motorway?
I was thinking about this the other week after a collision with a pheasant which left my windscreen smeared with blood and my stomach churning.
The owners of the land on which this pheasant had been released had put up signs along the busy road which passed through it, asking drivers to beware of pheasants.
Whether this was to help with their liabilities if one of their birds caused damage or an accident, or was concern for the welfare of the birds, I don't know.
Having recently read about the death of a motorcyclist who collided with a pheasant elsewhere in the country, I wondered if it was linked to the increase in these signs.
But either way I thought it was a cheek. A bit like choosing to create a hazard by setting up a free-range kitten sanctuary on the side of an A-road, then attempting to excuse your recklessness by asking drivers to be careful.
Reading more about the pheasant shooting industry, and the awful conditions in which many birds are reared, I was glad to learn that tighter rules are on the horizon.
An inquiry has been launched by the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC), following footage of cruelty in pheasant rearing filmed by Animal Aid campaigners.
The industry is apparently not inspected or regulated in the same way as that of chickens, as game birds are not classed as farm animals.
The council is particularly concerned with new, more intensive methods being used in the industry.
The Independent quoted a spokesperson saying: "FAWC is particularly concerned with the development of raised cages for breeding pheasants and the long-term use of small raised cages for partridges in pairs.
"Design appeared to be influenced more by cost and manufactur- ing requirements than the birds' welfare."
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is apparently due to draw up a new code of conduct for the game bird industry.
In Holland, the rearing of game birds for shooting has already been banned.
6 Comments
by Jon Burgess, Worcestershire
Monday, December 22 2008, 7:47PM
“Re the comments by James Exeter.
Stag hunting using hounds is carried out to manage the deer herds on Exemoor and the Quantocks. It only required 1 huntsman, 1 whipper in to assist the huntsman and a marksman to despatch the selected deer. Since the Hunting Act several marksman are now required as every deer flushed from cover must be shot on sight. The West Country has one of the finest herds of red deer in Europe, how long it will remain so is now very debatable.
In the case of fox hunting only a huntsman and whipper in were needed to control the hounds. The only reason for the mounted followers 'the field' or "cavalry" as you describe them is to pay for the running of the hunt, it's kennels, wages etc.
In simple terms the field pay for the hunt to provide a free deer management or fox control service to the farmer. in return the field get to ride across great countryside and see and hear hounds doing what nature intended.
Hope these few facts will provide a small insight into the practicalities of hunting and why so many people take part.”
by James, exeter
Monday, December 22 2008, 2:07PM
“Who wrote this article? It is so full of inaccuracies i don't know where to start! What is wrong, by the way, in killing an animal that is intended to be eaten? This is the way of the world, now Fox and stag hunting with cavalry and packs of dogs for 'fun' is another fight altogether...”
by Jon Burgess, Worcestershire
Sunday, December 21 2008, 1:00PM
“The author obviously knows little if anything about gamekeeping or the countryside to have written such an article.
1) 60% of those who shoot are skilled or semi skilled workers, not the wealthy toffs the anti shooting brigade like to portray.
2) Pheasants are released in the summer not the autumn.
3) There are only a handful of game farms in the UK which use outdoor cages and these are for egg production and not for rearing. The birds spend only a few months in them and then are released themselves.
4) Sound animal welfare and good husbandry are vital to the successful
rearing of any livestock pheasants etc are no different.
Engaging in serious debate or condemning any person or practice without having looked at all the facts is simply prejudice. A more balanced article might have been written if one or two shooting groups had been consulted first but hey lets not the facts get in the way of a good story.”
by CatC, London
Saturday, December 20 2008, 8:49PM
“The fact that throughout history ruthlessly exploiting the innocent and defenceless 'contributed' lots of money to our economy does NOT make any of that exploitation any less immoral, and money does not make the shooting industry any less immoral.”
by giles bradshaw, Rose Ash
Saturday, December 20 2008, 4:26PM
“The shooting industry contributes £250 million pounds worth of conservation in this country.”
by CatC, London
Saturday, December 20 2008, 4:19AM
“"I CAN'T help feeling there must be something wrong with someone who enjoys killing"
Me too, a truly civilised society wouldn't tolerate killing for entertainment and this killingfest must be banned - we do not need a 'code of conduct' from Government we need a moral lead as to respect for 'life' and compassion for others.”