Tiny, cramped and torturous: the stark reality behind breeding game birds in cages

Press release 

Trapped inside tiny, cramped cages for the day, animal welfare campaigners have been personally demonstrating the cruelty involved in breeding birds for the commercial game shooting industry. 

With little to sustain them and the only chance of freedom depending on the generosity of the public, the League Against Cruel Sports’ “birds” aim to highlight to the UK government the low animal welfare standards involved in breeding the tens of millions of pheasants and partridges that are shot for sport every year in this country. 

Breeding groups of pheasant, and pairs of red-legged partridge are kept in cages that are only the size of an A4 piece of paper and endure immense suffering, including stress and breeding-related injuries and death.  

The League is lobbying Westminster for caged game bird breeding to be made illegal, and hopes by showing law-makers how truly cramped and cruel the cages are when scaled up to human-size, they will understand the urgent need for these cages to be outlawed.  

Emma Slawinski, the League’s Chief Executive, said: “These cages are tiny, they are bleak, and the birds suffer immensely. They are injured by attempting to fly out, and the females are injured by the male’s talons repeatedly pulling out her back feathers. All of this is so eggs can be produced in their tens of millions to provide birds that only exist to be shot.” 

During today’s event, the League’s trapped “birds” were only able to briefly “escape” if a member of the public signed a government petition, started by actor and animal welfare advocate Joanna Lumley, to ban such cages. The petition has reached 100,000 signatures and climbing, which not only shows the strength of public feeling on the issue but will also prompt a parliamentary debate. 

The event was staged outside the seat of the Welsh Government in Cardiff Bay – Wales is home to the headquarters of Europe’s biggest game bird breeding farm, Bettws Hall, in Powys, which exports its chicks and poults all over the UK and Ireland. 

Emma added: “Currently no specific legislation exists to protect the breeding and rearing of game birds and while Defra’s Code of Practice from 2009 states that game birds should have access to enough space to avoid stress, the reality for breeding birds is that they suffer appallingly.  

“It is time for change and it is time for the government to ban these cruel cages.” 

ENDS