IF the Labour Government really cared about the animal kingdom, it would be putting a complete ban on battery production, not standing by while new forms of factory farming are introduced.

What a sick and cruel society we see before us - even wild game birds are now being intensively bred to satisfy growing demand.

Not only are thousands of pheasants and partridges being shot every year in Britain for "sport" (most of which never find their way onto the dinner table), but an increasing number of these victims, in the words of Animal Aid, "come from eggs laid by breeding birds who are confined for their whole lives in the kind of battery cages that are being phased out across Europe for laying hens, because they are so cruel".

Oh dear, how low can anyone stoop? The final straw for me is that masks are placed over the game birds' faces, often by being driven through their nasal septums (something that would be illegal if done to poultry). This is to stop them pecking each other to death.

Also, many of the game birds evidently suffer appalling head injuries from battering themselves against their wire prisons in vain attempts to escape.

To an animal lover like myself, it's beyond belief how our politicians can allow this vile practice to happen. Maybe they just don't give a damn?

Aled Jones, Mount Crescent, Bridlington.