Shooting industry is destroying UK countryside with 'irreversible consequences'

Daily Mirror

11-05-2025

A new report by Animal Aid and Chris Packham warns the shooting industry and the release of millions of pheasant and partridges each year is killing the countryside and "the time to act is now"
The release of 40-60 million pheasant and partridges each year - bred to be shot for sport - is having a devastating impact on the British countryside and is threatening native wildlife, warns a new report.
Beyond what welfare group Animal Aid say is 'terrible harm inflicted on the birds' who are raised on intensive factory farms, there are also serious repercussions for native wildlife leading to declines in their populations. It is is of particularly concern as the UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world.
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They also warn that gamekeepers also target animals deemed a threat to these birds – foxes, crows and even protected raptors – to create an artificial landscape for those paying to shoot innocent birds for sport.
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They have joined together with TV presenter Chris Packham who said the environmental fallout is profound – land and waterways polluted with lead shot, native plants depleted and the risk of avian flu spread.
Chris Packham said: 'These birds are not native to the UK, and many of them are 'factory farmed' – bred to be shot. The sheer scale of these mass releases is truly astounding and should alarm anyone who cares about Britain's wildlife.
"The UK is one of the most nature-depleted nations on the planet - we need to urgently preserve our biodiversity. If we don't, the consequences will be irreversible and dire.'
The report, 'Killing our countryside' says every August, the weight of all the birds released exceeds that of all other wild birds in Britain as a result of one in 12 woodlands in England containing a pheasant release pen.
Getting millions of birds ready for shooting requires what Animal Aid calls "an industrial system that is just as cruel and inhumane as the worst factory farms." They say their undercover investigations revealed egg-laying birds in cramped metal cages - many spending their whole productive lives trapped, while the birds suffer stress, feather loss and head wounds. In an attempt to eliminate the aggression between the birds caused by overcrowding, restraining devices (bits) are fitted on their beaks.
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It claims that factory farmed pheasants and partridges are ill prepared for life in the wild with two-thirds released dying of disease, starvation, run over or killed by predators. For those who survive, they are 'beaten' up into the sky on estates which can charge in excess of £3,000 a day. Britain is the only European country that offers the opportunity to kill such large numbers of released non-native game birds in a day.
It also highlights how more than 7,000 tonnes of lead ammunition - billions of individual pellets - is fired into the environment which many wild birds mistake as grit. It is estimated that this poisons up to 400,000 wildfowl in the UK every winter but as many as several million birds are likely to ingest gunshot in the course of a year.
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There is serious and widespread concern about the severe impacts of highly contagious avian influenza after at least 78 bird species have tested positive in the UK, including 21 out of 25 regular breeding bird species. A 2022 Defra risk assessment concluded that infected released gamebirds posted a high to very high transmission risk to waterfowl, birds of prey, corvids, waders, gulls and wild pheasants and high to medium risk for owls and passerines (finches and sparrows).
The most serious outbreak of bird flu last year was found in a group of pheasants in England, sparking criticism of the loose restrictions around their rearing.
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Narrating the film Chris Packham says: 'Astonishingly, in late summer, the biomass of pheasants and red-legged partridges in the countryside is greater than all other wild birds combined. These released birds play a substantial role in changing ecosystems – and their impacts on native wildlife can have wide and serious repercussions.
'Shooting estates have been responsible for thousands of tonnes of lead annually, discharged from guns, which has leached into land and waterways – studies have shown resulting lead levels found in some plants are dangerous to both people and animals."
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Many shooting estates have also been linked to the illegal killing of wildlife. In January 2021, the public tipped off the RSPB team about a live buzzard caged in Nottinghamshire.
They released the bird and set up a covert surveillance camera. It caught gamekeeper John Orrey trapping two buzzards and beating them to death. Nottinghamshire magistrates fined him £1,000 and gave him 20 weeks' imprisonment, suspended for a year.
Another tip led to the discovery of the worst raptor persecution case in England in terms of body count. Eleven buzzards and four red kites were found in a well on a Wiltshire pheasant shoot. Footage captured gamekeeper Archie Watson throwing a buzzard and other birds down the well, often preceded by the sound of gunshots. The RSPB says there is a clear link between raptor persecution and land managed for game bird shooting, with two-thirds of recorded bird crimes in 2021 taking place on land managed for or connected to the industry.
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Scientific studies reach the same conclusion. A landmark paper (Ewing et al, 2023) published in Biological Conservation revealed that the illegal killing of Hen Harriers associated with game bird management accounts for up to three-quarters of Hen Harrier annual mortality.
Of all individuals convicted of bird of prey persecution-related offences between 2009 and 2023, 75% were connected to the game bird shooting industry says the RSPB. There are also concerns about pheasants outcompeting wild birds and also blamed for declines in adder numbers.
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Emma Slawinski, chief executive at the League Against Cruel Sports, said: 'This report shows the shocking impact the shooting industry is having on the lives of gamebirds, wildlife and the environment.
'The government needs to end this cycle of cruelty and devastation – including banning cramped battery-style cages used to breed the tens of millions of non-native pheasants and partridges released into the British countryside every year, simply to be shot.'
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Iain Green, director of Animal Aid, said their new campaign 'draws together all these impacts, revealing the cost to nature for the sake of profit. The time to act is now.'.
He added: "I live in the countryside and have seen first-hand the cruelty of the shooting industry - pheasants and partridges who have been raised in intensive farms released into the countryside to be shot simply for entertainment. What may be less obvious, is the damage that the release of tens of millions of captive bred pheasants into the countryside does to local wildlife and the environment.
'As well as the suffering of birds bred in factory conditions, this blood sport has hidden consequences, such as competition with local wildlife, land and waterways contaminated with lead shot, depletion of native plants, and the spread of avian flu.
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While most people oppose the recreational killing of pheasants and partridges, few are aware of the extensive harm it inflicts on our countryside. We are a nation who care deeply about nature and the natural world and I know most people, shocked by our report, will be asking how this is allowed?
But Glynn Evans, head of game and wildlife management at the British Association of Shooting and Conservation, said: 'Claims about the impact of game bird releasing ignore the vital conservation work done by the shooting community, who manage millions of hectares to support biodiversity and protect vulnerable species. There are legal requirements for the owners and keepers of animals, including game birds, and there are specific government codes of practice for these species, while lawful predator control helps protect threatened ground-nesting birds.'
'Shooting contributes £3.3 billion to the UK economy and sustains rural jobs, while also supporting habitat restoration and the supply of healthy, sustainable game meat. Shooting providers and volunteers deliver £500 million of conservation work annually, equivalent to 26,000 full-time jobs and 14 million workdays.
'Attacks on shooting overlook its environmental and economic value to the countryside.'