In IRELAND millions of pheasants and partridges are purpose-bred annually. These birds are kept in battery cages, sheds and pens for the multi-million pound shooting industry. Artificially-reared birds are subject to painful mutilations and have administered to them a variety of pharmaceuticals in an attempt to combat the stress and diseases that are the inevitable consequences of intensive farming.
As the Shooting fraternity itself has acknowledged, millions of birds are shot purely for sport rather than for the dinner table. Additionally, large numbers of wild birds and mammals are mercilessly killed in ‘predator control’ programmes.

We, the undersigned:
• Believe that the farming of pheasants and partridges to serve as feathered targets is perversely cruel.
• We call for a ban on the production of birds for ‘sport’ shooting to be introduced in Ireland.
• A similar ban was introduced in Holland in 2002.