Shooting animals for fun has no place (From Worcester News)
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Shooting animals for fun has no place
11:29am Friday 30th September 2011 in Read
SIR – Worcester News readers may be shocked to learn that every year in Britain about 50 million pheasants and partridges are mass-produced to serve as feathered targets for wealthy ‘guns’.
From birth they are confined in cages, sheds and pens, in which disease and death are a daily feature.
Many birds, frightened and stressed, are fitted with restraining devices over their beaks to prevent them from pecking their cage mates.
About half the released birds die before they can be gunned down. They perish from exposure, starvation, disease or predation, or under the wheels of motor vehicles.
Only a fraction of the shot birds are eaten – even proshooting magazines have reported that many are buried in specially dug holes.
Killing animals for fun has no place in a civilised society.
For a free anti-shooting action pack, contact Animal Aid on 01732 364546 or go to animalaid.org.uk.
PHILIPPA LEES
Tenbury Wells
Comments(19)
New Kid on the Block
says...
7:52pm Fri 30 Sep 11
Start with the usual claim that people who go shooting are rich. Wrong, people from all walks of life go shooting. I am certainly not rich but I do own a shotgun.
Frightened distressed birds are not going to grow into strong healthy birds. Every Gamekeeper I have ever met takes pride in breeding strong healthy birds. Exactly the opposite of the claims you make.
Birds that are confined are never going to be the strong fit animals that I see. The pens you mention are called release pens. They are open topped, thus allowing the birds to move out into surrounding areas as and when they wish to.
Some birds will die due to predation or the ubiqitous motor vehicle, very few from disease and none should starve as a plentifull supply of food is provided. Any Gamekeeper who lost half of his stock like you claim would soon be out of a job.
As for the ridiculous claim that only a fraction of the birds shot get eaten that is a total lie. The only mention of birds being buried that I have ever seen in a shooting magazine is when they refute this unfounded and ridiculous claim.
Birds that are shot will either be taken home by the guns and the shoot employees or they will be collected by a game dealer for sale to the public.
Pheasant and Partridge are very edible and to my mind far preferable to the intensively reared Chickens that every supermarket sells.
tub_thumper
says...
8:06pm Fri 30 Sep 11
Cant you just admit that you shoot for fun, you support hounds ripping apart foxes (for fun) and that you condone kicking seagulls up the arse (er, for fun)!
New Kid on the Block
says...
9:59pm Fri 30 Sep 11
You are the one who chose to bring seagulls and foxes into the debate.
Yes I do enjoy shooting and would muchg rather eat a Pheasant, Partridge, or Rabbit that has had a relatively natural free range life than eat a Supermarket intensively reared Chicken. I know where I believe the debate about animal welfare should be directed.
Yes I do support those people who hunt though as I have always made clear I don't hunt myself.
I presume you will withdraw your pathetic comment about seagulls.
Having made my point I dont propose to get into a long winded argument with someone who is not open to persuasion.
tub_thumper
says...
11:29pm Fri 30 Sep 11
New Kid on the Block
says...
11:49am Sat 1 Oct 11
Unlike you my post didn't contain deliberate lies.
Goodbye.
New Kid on the Block
says...
10:27am Mon 3 Oct 11
molecat
says...
7:32am Tue 4 Oct 11
tub_thumper
says...
11:03am Tue 4 Oct 11
ushmush
says...
2:33pm Tue 4 Oct 11
tub_thumper
says...
5:20pm Tue 4 Oct 11
Laudanum
says...
9:41pm Tue 4 Oct 11
country lad
says...
10:56pm Tue 4 Oct 11
I wouldn't waste your time replying to this rubbish.
this site peddles this rubbish all the time. soon as you reply to air your views''
it is took down.
the evening news is very anti ,gun,dog,ferreting, pigeon shooting etc...
country lad
says...
10:59pm Tue 4 Oct 11
but when this forum never seams to air both sides of a story it really gets on my wick.
country lad
says...
11:00pm Tue 4 Oct 11
tub_thumper wrote:yes and your trash talking shows what anti shooting and country life is to town people !!
Just because YOU dont agree with the letter it makes it stupid? Well, at least your comment actually shows the mentality of shooting supporters...
ushmush
says...
9:07am Wed 5 Oct 11
New Kid on the Block
says...
12:59pm Wed 5 Oct 11
Laudanum wrote:Anyone who has ever had anything to do with shooting will know that animals are NOT kept in appalling conditions.
Killing animals to eat for survival is one thing, shooting them for sport, is barbaric. Keeping them in appalling conditions until they're released for this so called sport, is even more barbaric.
They are in fact kept in natural free range conditions.
Birds can fly, and if they wanted to they would simply move to somewhere that they preferred.
Shooting is far from barbaric. From an animal welfare point of view it is far preferable to the intensive methods used to produce a lot of the meat that we eat.
gemma6
says...
5:52pm Wed 5 Oct 11
Worcesterwench
says...
8:55pm Thu 6 Oct 11
'Kill to eat'
No more , no less!!
SIMPLE!
New Kid on the Block
says...
12:23pm Fri 7 Oct 11
Even simpler.
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