YOUR correspondent TB Woodward seems to have been badly misinformed about pheasant shooting. ('Pity the 'factory-raised' pheasants," letters, October 30). The letter has repeated a number of false and inaccurate claims spread by the animal rights activists, Animal Aid.
Pheasants are not raised in "factory conditions". The birds are reared in spacious conditions which are markedly better than those endured by most of the poultry which ends up in the supermarkets.
They are released into the wild weeks before shooting starts, and allowed to develop naturally.
The claim that almost half of all shot pheasants are discarded does not stand up to the briefest examination of reality. Teams of "pickers up" with trained working dogs are present at every shoot to ensure that all shot birds are gathered quickly and efficiently. None are left where they fall, and the claim that shot pheasants are fed to "foxes being raised in artificial earths by the hunting set" is so silly it made me fall about laughing.
Pheasants are an excellent source of tasty, nutritious food. I recommend them to your readers.
Simon Clarke,
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation,
Marford Mill,
Rossett, Wrexham.
Updated: 10:40 Thursday, November 01, 2001
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