What is 'Game Bird' Shooting?

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Game bird shooting appears to many as a classic British countryside sport, where wild birds are skilfully shot by marksmen and eaten as part of a delicious home cooked meal.

The reality, however, is that investigations, undercover filming, scientific research and economic analysis have all revealed that the perceptions of commercial ‘game’ bird shooting in the UK are deceptive. The financial benefit to the economy is exaggerated, whilst animal welfare is compromised, and our environment and landscape are put at risk.

In terms of the numbers of animals persecuted and killed, no other cruel ‘sport’ in the UK has such a devastating impact on animals as commercial 'game' bird shooting.

Despite the increasing scale of the shooting industry as represented by greater economic inputs and the increasing density of birds reared and released for shoots, the proportion of birds that are shot is decreasing each year.

What is wrong with 'game' bird shooting?

Farmed pheasants and partridges are fed and ‘protected’ from predators before being released onto shooting estates, where they are driven towards paying shooters by employees called beaters.

Wounding in game shooting is common, mainly due to an inability to judge distances, which results in up to 40 percent of birds being wounded, rather than killed outright, according to a former training officer at the British Association for Shooting and Conservation. Many are left to die slowly when they are not retrieved by people or dogs.

Factory farming and cage breeding

Many of the tens of millions of birds released on to UK shooting estates are bought from intensive farming systems in European countries. More than five million pheasants and over 2.1 million partridges were imported live into the UK between 1 May 2018 and 30 April 2019. In addition to over 19.7 million pheasant eggs imported from Europe. Furthermore, 54,000 hatching pheasant eggs and 5,250 live birds were imported from the USA during the same period.

These young birds can spend 20 hours or more crammed inside a crate stacked in the back of a lorry travelling from farm to shoot.

Those that are not imported are often bred in cages here in the UK. We are calling for an end to this cruel practise of breeding game birds in cages. Find out more on caged breeding.

SIGN THE PETITION TO END THE USE OF CRUEL CAGES FOR THESE BIRDS

Trapping and snaring

To minimise predation of game birds by native predators and to maximise profit, gamekeepers will set snares and traps to target animals such as foxes, stoats and crows. However, due to the indiscriminate nature of these devices, many non-target protected and endangered species such as badgers and hares, as well as domestic cats, get caught in these traps. Snares are currently legal in England, whilst both Wales and Scotland have banned them.

Gamekeepers on grouse shooting moors cull mountain hares due to unwarranted fears that they carry a tick-borne virus which kills grouse chicks and are therefore seen as a threat to the grouse shooting industry. This is illegal in Scotland without a licence, thanks to campaigning by the League and others, but is still legal in England.

WRITE TO YOUR MP TO ASK THEM TO SUPPORT A BAN IN ENGLAND

Wildlife crime

Wildlife crime is also associated with the management practices of game bird shooting estates. Birds of prey are illegally persecuted on grouse shooting moors and in pheasant shooting woods. Studies suggest that because offenders do not distinguish between different raptor species, they can have considerable impacts on already vulnerable species.

According to the RSPB’s most recent report, the illegal persecution of hen harriers - associated with the management of moorland for grouse shooting - is both the leading cause of the hen harrier’s decline and is the most significant obstacle preventing their recovery.

Other bird of prey affected by this practice, include owls, buzzards, golden eagles and peregrine falcons.

For more information, here are four signs that a 'game' bird shooting may be happening near you.

Environmental destruction

Pheasants and red-legged partridges are not native to the UK and yet it is estimated that over 61 million of these birds are released into the British countryside each year.

There is concern amongst conservationists that the annual mass release of these birds - with a total biomass greater than that of all our native birds combined - has an adverse impact on native wildlife.

A study on trends in the game bird shooting industry demonstrates that with the increasing size and intensification of shooting estates comes greater risk to the environment. It is believed that the intensification of the game bird shooting industry paired with the large-scale release of captive-reared birds and decreasing interest in sustainable management techniques, is likely to have negative implications for the local biodiversity around shooting estates.

Furthermore, studies and recent reports link grouse moor management with environmental degradation, river pollution, contributing to climate change and the potential link between grouse shooting moors and urban flooding.

The government has also prioritised safeguarding the profits of the game bird shooting industry, over the protection of native British species. Natural England has issued licences in recent years to kill buzzards to protect pheasant poults from their predation. This government policy has been strongly criticised by the League, RSPB and conservation experts.

Overstated economics

Our report, Shooting Animals for Sport: Worth Less analyses the findings of economic experts who were asked to review two shooting industry reports on the economics of sport shooting (PACEC 2006, 2014). The study concluded that both reports are based on ‘biased opinion’ instead of scientific fact.

As a result of such studies, we believe, as the UK's leading animal charity working to make cruel sports a thing of the past, that 'game' bird shooting is a hobby that is detrimental to the welfare of both game birds and wild animals.

Simulated pheasant shooting, partridge shooting and grouse shooting – which uses clay discs as an alternative to live birds – can provide substantial investment for rural communities and employment for loaders, technicians, catering staff, garage owners, publicans and landowners. Unlike its live-quarry-counterpart, simulated shooting allows the countryside to be conserved by benefiting all wildlife beyond the red grouse and pheasant whilst still providing economic benefits, without compromising animal welfare or being associated with wildlife crime and environmental damage.

Take action against game bird shooting

•  Sign the petition calling on the government to ban cages for game birds 
• Write to your MP and ask them to back our campaign to ban snares in England
• Find out more on the timeline of shooting.