Defra has launched a Call for Evidence on Gamebird Release, Shooting and Welfare during Rearing in England.
The Call for Evidence is a welcome development. The Farm Animal Welfare Council (“FAWC”) raised concerns about the use of cages for gamebirds in its 2008 opinion, finding that “[r]aised cages for breeding pheasants in their present form do not appear to offer birds an environment in which their basic needs to express normal behaviour can be or are being met.” The FAWC reached the same conclusion in relation to cages for breeding partridges.
The FAWC recommended that barren cages for both species be phased out. It expressly called for the government to ban their use within five years if the industry failed to do so voluntarily. Yet, almost 18 years later, these cages remain legal despite further scientific evidence highlighting the serious harms associated with their use.
There is no sound justification for continuing to permit the use of these cages for gamebirds. Conventional battery cages for laying hens have been banned on animal welfare grounds since 2012.
The Centre for Animal Welfare Policy has submitted a response to the call for evidence. The Centre presents evidence that cage systems, including raised laying units, prevent pheasants and partridges from adequately expressing normal behaviour, contrary to the requirements of section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Accordingly, the Centre recommends a statutory phase-out of the use of all cages for breeding pheasants and partridges.
Defra’s call for evidence closes on 1 November 2026.