It’s no ‘game’ to these creatures (From Worcester News)
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It’s no ‘game’ to these creatures
12:30pm Friday 21st October 2011 in Read
SIR – Jon Burgess (Worcester News, October 6) claims unsubstantiated allegations by Animal Aid, and follows on with several of his own.
Game shooting is no longer confined to aristocrats inviting other aristocrats for jolly weekends of carnage.
It is now big business charging large fees for the privilege. Mr Burgess implies a customer base of factory workers and shop assistants.
Most clients are wealthy business people who could loosely be classed as working people since they are mostly paid a salary.
The birds are kept in cages and released to acclimatise for a while before the shooting starts.
They can be seen wandering on many country roads at this time of year and many must get hit by cars.
Incidentally, could Mr Burgess explain the expense incurred in releasing the birds from the cages that he says they are not kept in?
I think Mr Burgess is rather missing the point.
There may be a healthy export market; restaurants and supermarkets may be making game more easily available to all; but “game” is the operative word.
These birds are bred specifically for people to have fun taking pot shots at them – people who should be able to find something to do that does not involve killing and maiming creatures who have done them no harm.
ROBERTA BALFOUR
Malvern
New Kid on the Block says...
10:24pm Fri 21 Oct 11
Many shoots are not run as large businesses but are run by a small group of people who share the work and costs with no thought of making a profit.
When I was at College I remember being taught how to make a small fortune out of shooting. - Start with a large one.
The typical person who shoots is a skilled manual worker not a rich businesman.
Birds are not kept in cages and released shortly before a shoot. Young birds (known as poults) are released into pens in summer. These pens are very large and open topped. As pheasants can fly it is obvious that they can come and go as they please.
The purpose of the pen is not to contain the pheasants but to provide a safe haven free from predators such as foxes for the young birds. As they mature birds will naturally start to spread.
Game birds have a much better more natural life than the intensively reared chickens to be found in every supermarket.
I regularly eat game of all kinds (pheasant, partridge, venison, rabbit etc) and do so happily in the knowledge that it has led a happy and natural life. Unlike the intensively reared meat that profit oriented supermarkets want us to eat.