Welsh public urged to back charity’s calls to end cruel game bird breeding
Posted 5th September 2022
For immediate release
Monday 5 September 2022
Wales is home to Bettws Hall, Europe’s largest game bird breeder, and the League’s calls come ahead of a Game Fair due to be held next week in Gwynedd.
The charity is holding a series of family-friendly roadshows in Wrexham, Brecon, Cardiff and Swansea next month. Residents will be asked to contact their Members of the Senedd and urge them to back a ban on caged game bird breeding.
Billie-Jade Thomas, senior public affairs officer (Wales) for the League Against Cruel Sports said: “Bettws Hall keeps 90,000 pheasants and partridges in tiny wire cages in order to produce a staggering eight million eggs per year – with each bird born to be shot purely for entertainment.
“It’s time for change, and Wales can and should lead the way in ending the cruel use of cages for game birds to help stop their suffering.”
Polling commissioned by the League and undertaken by YouGov in January 2021 indicated 72 per cent of the Welsh public think using cages to breed game birds should be illegal.
Breeding pheasants and partridges are denied the basic protections other farmed birds such as poultry receive, including minimum space restrictions.
They are kept in barren battery cages – metal boxes raised from the ground with a mesh floor and a roof of netting or rigid wire – with no opportunities to fly, forage or experience freedom.
In a bid to escape their confinement many suffer appalling injuries such as head wounds inflicted by jumping repeatedly and futilely against the roof of their cages.
Billie-Jade added: “The Welsh Government has committed to examine the evidence around the use of breeding cages for game birds and to introduce registration for commercial breeders for shooting. But more action is needed to make Wales a cage free nation.
“Wales has the opportunity to be the first country in the UK to ban the caged breeding of game birds and we’re calling on the Senedd to take action now.”
- The League is due to be in Wrexham city centre on October 8 and Brecon town centre on October 9. Campaigners will then be in Cardiff city centre on October 15 and Swansea city centre on October 16. All from 11am onwards.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
For more information or interview requests please contact the League Against Cruel Sports Press Office on 01483 524250 (24hrs) or email pressoffice@league.org.uk