Campaign against Euro Tunnel gathers steam
Posted 16th May 2019
Have you ever had the phone slammed down on you? Have you ever thought that possibly that wasn’t the best customer service you ever received? If you recently called Euro Tunnel to ask about their decision to import day old pheasant chicks into the UK, then this may feel very familiar.
The shooting industry imports and releases millions of non-native birds into the UK from mainland Europe. Bred exclusively for the gun, these birds are shot out of the sky as a living target practice for those that have it in their head that their leisure activity should come at the cost of sentient creatures’ lives.
So where does Euro Tunnel come in? Last month, the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) exposed, via a story published in The Times, that day-old chicks were being transported via train under the English Channel.
It is not right for a leading travel brand to be propping up an industry of blood sports. In a co-ordinated effort between the League Against Cruel Sports and the HSA, members of the public have phoned en masse (only to have the phone slammed down on them) and more than 2,500 have tweeted at @leshuttle with no reply. We have sent two letters calling for the transportation to stop, and still no reply.
So why this wall of silence?
Perhaps the answer comes from looking back at the history of this campaign. Euro Tunnel is the last cross-channel transport company to carry pheasant chicks. Back in 2015, a League exposé lead to ferry companies P&O, Brittany and DFDS to ban the shipping of ‘game’ birds on their ships. In short, the ferry companies have decided not to prop up the shooting industry, and it’s within Euro Tunnel’s power to do the same.
So why these poor birds are being found at the back of Euro Tunnel trains? At just one day old they are shoved into cramped boxes, stacked into the back of a van and transported 40 metres below the sea.
There is no light at the end of the tunnel for these birds. They are destined to die at the hands of those who seek to shoot them down for fun. Unless, together, we do something about it.