Pheasants are bred and released on an industrial scale in factory farm conditions. They are then shot and dumped in mass open graves. The number of pheasants killed is so big heavy machinery is need to dump them into the pit.

An investigation carried out by West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs, Stop The Cull and the Hunt Saboteurs Association exposes the dark side of the shooting industry. The footage shows dead pheasants being dumped in a mass open grave by a digger. This was a year long investigation of Cotesbach Game Ltd. The investigation found that there was cruelty involved in the shooting industry from the moment the birds are born right up until they are killed. The birds are bred in factory farm conditions and many die from over breeding and overcrowding. Plastic “bits” are clamped through their beaks to prevent cannibalism caused by the stress of overcrowding. About 50 million of these non-native birds are bred each year to be shot at more than 5,000 shoots. Customers often pay thousands of pounds to kill up to 800 birds a day.

It’s not just the game birds who suffer, gamekeepers employed by shoots trap, snare and shoot many native species to protect the game birds. This includes foxes, small mammals and other birds such as corvids and birds of prey many of which are endangered. The Larsen Trap designed to trap Corvids is have been banned in their country of origin due to cruelty.

Once the pheasants have been shot they are then dumped in mass open graves. The number of pheasants killed is so vast that heavy machinery is need to dump them into the pit. This is certainly not a one off it is is common practice in the shooting industry. “The birds get dumped Everybody — I repeat, everybody — in the shooting world knows this.” – Guy Walters, The Times

The shooting industry is coming under increasing scrutiny and ultimately we would like to see a complete ban. Until then we will continue to put the cruelty of the shooting industry under the microscope with investigations like this.

Donate

Your donations allow use to buy more cameras so that we can carry out more investigations like this one

Information

It is thanks to information from you that we are able to carry out investigations like this one. All communications with us are treated confidentially.