Campaign to ban cage breeding of game birds
AN ANIMAL welfare group has called for a ban on breeding game birds in cages after an undercover operation into conditions at a Welsh pheasant farm.
The pheasant shooting season begins on October 1.
Many of the pheasants bred to be shot are produced on huge factory farms, using caged birds to produce the eggs.
One such farm is at Bettws Hall, near Newtown, Powys.
Its website says it produces 600,000 eggs per week and rears in excess of 1.5 million poults per year.
The raised laying cages for pheasants used for breeding purposes contain one male and around eight females.
The roofs and floors of the cages consist of a coated wire-mesh which allows the birds’ faeces to fall through. The cages are sloped so that the eggs roll out into a collection tray.
The campaign group Animal Aid says that a Code of Practice meant to provide minimum welfare standards is inadequate and often not properly enforced.
Visits to Bettws Hall found birds in spartan cages, said Animal Aid.
The group argues there should be a total ban on raised laying cages, arguing that even with adherence to the Code, all cages deny many normal behaviours, including nesting, roaming, scratching, foraging, wingflapping, dustbathing, thermoregulation, roosting, evading predators and flying.
Fiona Pereira, campaign manager at Animal Aid, said: “There can be no Pheasant cages on land owned by Bettws Hall, Newtown doubt that the birds used for breeding purposes on game farms suffer enormously. No bird can ever be happy inside a cage. The majority of the public in Wales agree with us and we would ask the Welsh Government to take steps to ensure cages are no longer permitted. Killing animals for fun has no place in modern society and incarcerating birds in cages is abhorrent.”
Gwyn Evans, managing director of Bettws Hall, responded: “We are under weekly supervision from qualified vets. After visits from the Animal Plant and Health Agency (APHA) there were no findings of any malpractice.
“If egg production is taken away from Wales, eggs will be sourced from overseas with little or no standards. Tourism is vital to rural life and game shooting is worth over £2bn to the UK economy with in excess of 84,000 full-time jobs.”
Inspection visits from APHA officials are notified to those receiving the visits up to 48 hours in advance.