EVERY year, around 40 million pheasants are intensively reared to be released for shooting… and the four-month killing season started this week. 
Gun lobby spokesmen have already begun filling newspapers and the airwaves with their sunshine and roses fantasy picture of their bloody sport.
Cages, industrial hatcheries and release pens are all involved in mass production of these feathered targets. Animal Aid is pressing for a ban on purpose-breeding birds to be shot for sport, which Holland introduced in 2002. A particularly vicious aspect of game bird production is the use of small metal cages, in which the egg-producing birds are confined. Animal Aid recently released shocking undercover footage showing just how wretched and utterly depressing a time the birds have inside these metal prisons. A civilised country would not permit their use.
In fact, a YouGov opinion poll we commissioned last year found that 77 per cent of respondents opposed them.
You can add your voice to those calling for a cage ban. Please contact us for a free information and action pack.
ANDREW TYLER
Director, Animal Aid , The Old Chapel, Bradford Street, Tonbridge