COUNTRY & FARMING
Anew poll has shown that the Welsh public is overwhelmingly opposed to shooting and killing game birds for sport.
The YouGov poll, commissioned by Animal Aid and the League Against Cruel Sports, found 74% of a representative cross-section of people in Wales thought that shooting birds should be made illegal.
The poll has been published to coincide with a major consultation on whether to allow shooting on public land by the largest Welsh Government quango, Natural Resources Wales (NRW).
The polling also found that 76% of people oppose the shooting of game birds for sport on publicly owned land in Wales after learning how chicks are bred for sport shooting.
In addition, the poll shows that 82% of respondents oppose the use of cages for breeding game birds, and that only 1% of people thought pheasants and other birds bred for sport shooting should have lower standards of welfare than other birds, as is the case now.
The consultation closed on April 25 and both animal welfare organisations presented the polling evidence, along with a petition signed by more than 12,500 people, to Natural Resources Wales and the National Assembly’s Petitions Committee.
Bethan Collins, League Against Cruel Sports’ senior public affairs officer for Wales, said: “People are starting to understand the life of cruelty endured by these birds, and they are saying they want it to end.
“These poor birds – millions of them in Wales – are intensively bred in cages and released only so they can be slaughtered for fun.
“Many will die or be killed before they even make it to the shooting estate, others will be wounded painfully rather than killed outright, and any suggestion that they all end up on someone’s dinner table is false – many dead birds will be simply dumped.”
Fiona Pereira, campaigns manager for Animal Aid, said: “I sincerely hope that NRW takes heed of these poll results, which show the overwhelming opposition to the shooting of birds for sport on land in Wales.
“NRW manages the land on behalf of the people of Wales, and the opinion of the people could not be clearer.
“It’s time for the killing to stop.” The consultation itself is the culmination of a campaign initiated by Animal Aid. This found that NRW had not only inherited shooting agreements from its predecessor bodies, but that it planned to expand them without public consultation.
The poll also found that 72% of respondents felt that pheasants and other captive-bred birds used for sport shooting should have the same standards of welfare as other birds.
At present, game birds are protected only by a basic and limited code of practice on their welfare which is voluntary for breeders to comply with.
Furthermore, the relevant government agency – the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) – does not inspect birds on game farms unless a complaint has been made. This means that the birds are receiving a far lower level of scrutiny and protection even than other farmed animals, said Ms Pereira.
Animal Aid’s investigation of game birds kept on NRW land found breaches of welfare and industry codes. In 2017, around 40 dead game birds were discovered inside a release pen on NRW-leased land.
In addition, undercover visits to game farms found breeding birds kept in entirely barren cages, again in breach of the welfare code.
Garry Doolan, a spokesman for the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, said: “As is usual for Animal Aid and extremist groups like them, they deliberately misleading people with misrepresentation of the figures.
“The reality is that only 744 people, out of a total population of more than three million in Wales, gave Animal Aid the response they wanted in their minority poll.
“This doesn’t represent the truth of shooting’s value to the economy, conservation and tourism industry in Wales.
“The independent Value of Shooting report revealed that shooting is worth £75m a year to the economy in Wales.
“Shooting supports the equivalent of 2,400 full-time jobs in Wales, influences the management of around 380,000 hectares of land, and at least 76,000 people in the country shoot live quarry, clay pigeons or targets.
“In addition, the amount of conservation work provided by people who shoot in Wales amounts to the equivalent of 490 full-time conservation jobs.”