Anti-shooting campaigners publish carcase pictures

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By By James Ashcroft

Tuesday, 06 February 2007

Pictures of bird carcases and pheasant eggs in a shallow grave are published by Anti-shooting campaigners

As the gameshooting season drew to a close, anti-shooting campaigners fired a parting volley at the shooting community, with the publication of pictures of pheasants and eggs allegedly dumped in Beulah, west Wales, last summer.

Photographs taken earlier in the year showed a number of bird carcases and pheasant eggs lying in a shallow, open pit.

Kit Davidson, of Animal Aid, claims to have reported the matter in August last year. A Trading Standards investigation was carried out in the same month, but resulted in no prosecutions. At the time the agency was uncertain whether the birds in the pit were wild or farmed birds — wild birds are exempt from animal byproduct regulations. Carwyn Jones, the Welsh Assembly’s environment, planning and countryside minister, was made aware of the discovery by Liberal Democrat Assembly member Peter Black. Mr Jones has now launched a further investigation into the intended purpose of the pit.

Speaking after a live interview on the BBC Radio 4 programme Farming Today, Glynn Cook, director of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation for Wales, told ST: “The pit at Beulah was bad practice — had the shoot owner been a BASC member we would have taken the matter before the Code of Good Shooting Practice Committee. What it does show is that Shots and shoots need to be whiter-than-white and abide by the Code of Good Shooting Practice. Shooters pride themselves on abiding by the various codes and our reputation depends on people continuing to do so.”

ST spoke to a representative from the Welsh Assembly, who said: “The pit in which the gamebird carcases were disposed of at Beulah is no longer in use and has now been covered over. We are investigating any possible breaches of animal health rules.”