Dyfed-Powys Police is appealing for information after the discovery of ‘in excess of 100 dead pheasants’ found dumped by the side of the road at Heol Cropin Dafen in Llanelli, Wales on 13th/14th December 2023:
Media outlets are describing this as a ‘mystery‘ and ‘baffling‘ but regular blog readers will know that the dumping of shot gamebirds is not a new phenomenon, it’s been happening throughout the UK for years:
E.g. in Cheshire, Scottish borders (here), Norfolk (here), Perthshire (here), Berkshire (here), North York Moors National Park (here) and some more in North York Moors National Park (here) and even more in North Yorkshire (here), Co. Derry (here), West Yorkshire (here), and again in West Yorkshire (here), N Wales (here), mid-Wales (here), Leicestershire (here), Lincolnshire (here), Somerset (here), Derbyshire’s Peak District National Park (here), Suffolk (here), Leicestershire again (here), Somerset again (here), Liverpool (here), even more in North Wales (here) even more in Wales, again (here), in Wiltshire (here) in Angus (here), in Somerset again (here), once again in North Yorkshire (here), yet again in West Yorkshire (here) and yet again in mid-Wales (here).
It happens because the market for buying millions of shot gamebirds every year just isn’t there, evidenced by this photograph taken by a blog reader (@TLWforCumbria) in Cumbria in October 2023 where a market stall holder was trying to give them away:
The disposal of animal by-products (including shot gamebirds) is regulated and the dumping of those carcasses by the road in Wales is an offence.
It’s also a breach of the Code of Good Shooting Practice, which states that ‘Shoot managers must ensure they have appropriate arrangements in place for the sale or consumption of the anticipated bag in advance of all shoot days‘.
Will anyone be prosecuted? Of course not. There’s no requirement for the shoot managers to fit identifying markers to their livestock, which would make them traceable, because gamebird ‘livestock’ absurdly changes legal status to ‘wildlife’ as soon as the birds are released from the rearing pens for shooting (see Wild Justice’s blog on Schrodinger’s Pheasant for details).
UPDATE 30 December 2023: Over 100 shot pheasants dumped in Derbyshire (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
What a waste. Beefy could have flogged ’em to those in need – two-for-one, of course.
We should ask our new minister responsible for biosecurity, surely this falls under his remit…?
Media outlets need to wise up. It’s not difficult to work out why the birds are there and who dumped them
I’m fairly sure there aren’t too many shoots in Wales; also it gives more weight to the stoppage of importing hatchlings of Pheasant and Partridge to be reared for shooting. This waste is appalling!
I suspect there are far more shoots than you think in Wales Jill. Some of which are very large indeed. Most of the Severn valley is alive with the damned things and I’m reliably informed that few if any go into the human food chain..
I’ve little personal knowledge on Wales, only know what I’ve followed in shooting media for a few decades. From this I would say there are a good number of exceptionally large and highly commercial pheasant shoots in Wales, offering clients (paying “Guns”) the availability of grotesquely large bags of circa 400+ birds per day as standard. There are some well known big intensive game farms in Wales that supply nationally and a couple of those also run their own shoots, employ their own keepers, etc, etc. Therefore doing the whole thing end to end at an industrial scale – no doubt making a good margin by controlling costs on the whole thing.
Could they have all died in the same place at the same time naturally? Maybe they were part of a Pheasant cult mass suicide awaiting the end of the world?
Probably all shoot with lead and only people who already have lead poisoning would eat them.
It affects your brain function as can be seen by the people who take part in this barbaric muder
I understand bird flu still remains an issue in wild bird populations, and according to the latest government figures published on the 18th December 2023 there were four reported cases of bird flu in domestic poultry affecting 44,505 birds since the last report in November 2023. (source: DEFRA).
Despite the risks of releasing absurdly high concentrations of non native game birds into the countryside to satisfy a shooting clientele who make up tiny proportion of the UK population, and some who clearly from the reports of dumped shot birds can’t follow the rules, we have a government who seem hell bent on protecting “their friends” interests in the countryside.
When incidents like this are reported, it only serves to highlight the failure of the shooting industry umbrella organizations to impose any sort of real control on many shoots and shooters.
I suspect there will be land managers and shooters who do take their responsibilities very seriously, but these reports of illegally dumped birds, along with all the other reports of raptor persecution or other wildlife or environmental crimes demonstrate just why the shooting industry needs to be properly regulated by legislation. Legislation which can be effectively enforced and which puts the villains out of business, and makes it increasingly difficult for the irresponsible to engage in this activity.
Such a dreadful loss of life, and so much fear and pain for these birds before they die. I’m sitting here writing this hearing the sound of gunshot on the hill, where terrified deer will be running for their lives. The other day one of the shooters was overheard saying that they “shoot them hard, but they just keep running until the dogs finish them off”. Appalling cruelty.