With confirmed outbreaks of bird flu [avian influenza] in Ireland, the Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports is calling on the agriculture minister to shut down all driven pheasant shoots.
These birds are reared in captivity and then released into the path of stationary guns to be blasted.
The so-called sport is extremely cruel. The hand-reared pheasants have become so tame by the day of a shoot, that many of them waddle trustingly up to their killers, who can shoot them at virtually point blank range.
Pheasant shoots
These harmless birds, widely admired for their grace and multi-plumed grandeur, are riddled with lead shot and turned into blood-spattered carcasses just to amuse squads – rich thrill-seekers who see this crass behaviour as a challenge of marksmanship.
But the pheasants have about as much of a sporting chance against their opponents as farmyard hens would have against an M-60 machine gun.
If farmers are expected to lock up their poultry, it is inconceivable that the pheasant shoots should be allowed to continue operating.
There is an obvious risk that birds already diseased could be released to infect others, domestic or wild, or that a few birds could easily spread the disease far and wide, devastating the rural economy.
Far too often the blood sport fraternity has been able ‘flex’ its political muscle to avoid the restrictions imposed on other sectors in clampdowns on the spread of disease.
We saw this in 2019 when coursing clubs were able to pressure the government into lifting a ban on hare netting, despite the presence of the deadly RHD2 virus that was killing hares across Ireland.
The restrictions imposed on poultry framing in response to bird flu will have little value or impact if the pheasant shoots are not forced to cease their cruel, reckless, and potentially catastrophic activities.
From John Fitzgerald, PRO Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports, Callan, Co. Kilkenny.