https://theecologist.org/2018/oct/01/ pheasant-shooting-massive-waste-lifereports-marianne-brooker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting_and_ shooting_in_the_United_Kingdom#Game_ animals
Michaela Holmes - Game Shooting – A Harmless Recreational Activhttps://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac. ity? uk/2011/10/pheasant-shooting-bad-forpheasants-worse-for-humans/ www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2020/oct/12/the-guardianview-on-game-shooting-the-threat-is-tonature-not-sport https://whoownsengland.org/2019/04/02/ the-english-shooting-estates-that-rear-20million-pheasants-a-year/ www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/ feb/26/defra-challenged-over-unlawfulrelease-of-57m-game-birds-in-uk www.league.org.uk/what-we-do/shooting/
GAME SHOOTING – A HARMLESS RECREATIONAL ACTIVITY? By Michaela Since the prehistoric ages hunting has been practised in Britain and was a crucial activity for survival. Game shooting became more popular during the 18th and 19th centuries due to the improvement of shotguns and, under the 1831 Game Act, Game Laws were relaxed meaning anyone could obtain a permit to shoot rabbits, hares and gamebirds, the most popular being the common pheasant. Today, according to the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) over a million people a year participate in shooting from the 1st of October to 1st of February. Up to 146,000 pheasants, 5,300 red grouse and 38,300 red-legged partridges are shot every day in the UK, during their respective hunting seasons. As game shooting is legal, and annually participated in, is it simply a harmless recreational activity? Surprisingly, game shooting does have some benefits. Game managed woodlands had more woodland birds and wood-edge butterflies, evidence of some increased wildlife and habitats in areas that game inhabit. Thousands of jobs in game management and woodland control are also provided every year. Glynn Evans, BASC’s head of game and deer management, said: “Game shooting is good for conservation, good for economy and
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game meat is very good to eat”. It unites those who have a common passion for game shooting and the countryside, whilst encouraging people to enjoy the outdoors. However, this is perhaps rather trivial when considering the lives of the creatures that are intentionally mass bred and then destroyed as a result of this recreational activity. There are many negatives of, and surrounding, game shooting. Often, bred pheasants are kept initially in cramped intensive farming conditions before being released onto the estates area. In some USA cases, the birds are kept in cramped spaces before being deposited into the field to be shot. Many birds are imported from France, Belgium, Spain and Poland, representing nearly half of the UK’s total game bird population. Even though grouse cannot be reared intensively, the heather moorland in which they live on is intensively managed to maximise numbers. In the UK, minimum standards exist for the protection of animals bred or kept for farming; however, this did not apply to birds farmed for the ‘game’ shooting industry. Although landowners rearing game are around 2.5 times more likely to plant new woodlands, high densities of game birds can negatively impact ecosystems, increase predator numbers and create competition for food.
