More shot pheasants dumped in Lincolnshire as Avian Flu risk increases

Hot on the heels of my recent blog about the discovery of shot & dumped pheasants and geese in Nottinghamshire (here), another fly-tipping incident has been reported, this time involving the dumping of four shot pheasants inside a black plastic bag in Lincolnshire.

These were discovered on 16 Feb 2025 by a member of the public at the edge of farmland in Bourne, Lincolnshire. The finder said the bag had split open and she’d observed red kites feeding on the carcasses, evidenced by the amount of plucked feathers next to the bag. What’s the betting these pheasants were shot with toxic lead ammunition, now slowly poisoning the native wildlife? If the lead poisoning doesn’t get them, the Avian Influenza probably will.

The orange baler twine shown in the photograph is indicative that these pheasants had been killed on a nearby shoot (gamebirds are often tied together in a brace with baler twine and hung up to allow the air to get to them). It’s likely these four birds were given to a shoot participant to take home and he/she decided to dump them instead because they’d already served their purpose as live targets shot for entertainment.

Regular blog readers will know that the dumping of shot gamebirds is a common and widespread illegal practice that has been going on for years, despite the repeated denials by the shooting industry. Who else do they think is doing this if not the people involved in gamebird shooting?! The disposal of animal by-products (including shot gamebirds) is regulated and the dumping of these carcasses is an offence.

Previous reports include dumped birds found in Cheshire (here), 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), yet again in mid-Wales (here), even more in mid-Wales (here), more in Derbyshire (here), Gloucestershire (here) more in Cheshire (here), some in Cumbria (here), some more in the Scottish Borders (here) and again in Lincolnshire (here) and in Nottinghamshire (here).

Unless someone was seen dumping these shot gamebirds there’s no way of knowing who did it or from which gamebird shoot they originated. There’s no requirement for 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).

Obviously, it’s irresponsible (and illegal) to dump shot gamebirds at any time but especially so when the UK Government (and Scottish Government and now also the Welsh Government) has declared a nationwide Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) due to the heightened risk of the spread of highly pathogenic Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) amongst captive and wild birds.

These declarations make it a legal requirement for all bird keepers to follow strict and enhanced biosecurity measures to help protect their flocks from the threat of Avian Influenza. In some areas, the risk is considered so severe that mandatory housing measures have also been declared.

The Mandatory Housing Avian Influenza Prevention Zone was previously declared in the East Riding of Yorkshire, City of Kingston Upon Hull, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Shropshire, York and North Yorkshire. However, as of 16 February 2025, this has now been extended to cover Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Cheshire, Merseyside and Lancashire, as shown on this map:

The latest dumped pheasants found inside a black sack were discarded in Bourne, Lincolnshire, which also happens to be inside the regional Mandatory Housing Avian Influenza Prevention Zone.

I can’t imagine that the farmers in this area, who are having to implement the very highest levels of biosecurity measures and cover the financial strain of all that entails, will be impressed with the thoughtless, feckless and unaccountable actions of the gamebird shooting industry who yet again do what they like, when they like and to hell with the consequences because there aren’t any.