Is Game Shooting Acceptable in Modern Britain?

I believe Game shooting is acceptable, and indeed, needed in today’s modern Britain. I will attempt to prove this in the following essay, by taking the most favored anti-shooting arguments and answering them, point for point.
Game birds are released into the wild to die in huge numbers unnecessarily and unnaturally: Game birds, in this case pheasants (as grouse shooting is entirely wild), are released into the wild after being reared in outdoor pens for several weeks. They are then given several months and weeks to acclimatize themselves to the wilds. The pheasants do wander onto roads, but so does practically any other animal, especially agricultural animals (sheep/cows on the road). They live a free life, and are free to go from the area at anytime, as the only thing holding them back, and indeed can hold them back, are the presence of game feeders. These game feeders not only feed the local wildlife and songbirds, and provide a source of food all year round.
It is a high probability that many of the woods used in rearing and the holding of pheasants would not exist today, as they would have been returned to farmland as they are unsound to the agriculture economy. In fact, a large proportion of Britain’s hedgerows would not exist today if it were not for gameshooting. Those very same woods and hedgerows provide a HUGE increase in wildlife habitation for nature.
Gamebirds die in an unnatural and incredibly painful way:
Gamebirds, on nearly all counts, are given a free life, in which they are free to mate, eat, fly, and wander over the earth wherever they may please. And, maybe once a year, they a flown over a group of sportsmen, where they have more chance of being untouched by gunfire than any cow being used for meat has of escaping the abattoir. They have a better life than any cow or chicken, and more chance of surviving. Even when they have the unlucky odds, they often die as soon as they are shot, and if they are shot by an incompetent shot, who are often not allowed too shoot, their necks are broken almost instantly when they hit the ground. There are occasional times when a pheasant may be hit by a clipping shot, and will glide to the ground. These ‘runners’ are then retrieved (but not killed) by a gun dog, and will be killed humanly.
Game shooting only serves to irritate the communities and does nothing to help them: Per annum, shooting contributes 1.3 billion pounds to the British economy. It helps this country with 1 300 000 000 pounds sterling per year. This is not a figure to be scoffed at. Gameshooting provides 70 000 full time jobs per year, not counting the amount of part time jobs it offers teenagers and young adults.
Thanks to shooting, two million hectares are actively conserved through the 250 million spent on conservation efforts in Britain alone. The equivalent of 2.7 million work days on conservation is provided by shooting and consequently we have a much wider amount of natural countryside and different habitats, as well as a method, indeed a vessel in which old traditions (not necessarily shooting) can continue and be passed down the generations.
Shooting has helped put Game firmly on the menu, with it being served in butchers and often supermarkets around the country. It has been served in high class London restaurants, and has been promoted by Famous chefs (Michel Roux, Brian Turner, Antony Worrall Thompson and Anton Mosimann).
When game is shot, the birds are nearly all retrieved, and put in a refrigerator trailer. They are not thrown away, or buried to rot. They are handed out fairly around the shooters and the estate larder and nearly every one of them is eaten.
Gamebird chicks are reared in huge numbers in cramped conditions:
Grouse chicks are reared on the moor, completely in the wild, so it is not applicable to them. Pheasant eggs are first hatched in large incubators, and then moved, as like any young chicks, to an area where the chicks are near heat lamps and plentiful food. Chick aggressiveness is not uncommon, but is usually cure when they, as poults, are released to the keepers across the country, to be grown in rearing pens. Of course, some keepers choose to rear their own chicks, and this is obviously slower than the other method.
In conclusion, I believe Gameshooting is justifiable and indeed, needed in today’s Britain, to put another form of healthy food on the shelf (Indeed it has been proved Pheasant is an anti-depressant!) , and that game shooting is less cruel to the Gamebirds than an abattoir is too cows.
by Paul Kennard