Nature’s Nightmare: The Environmental Impact of Pheasant Shooting

A jaunt in the countryside typically leaves one with an idyllic sense of peace, a quaint communion with nature. But this morning, I encountered a rather more disquieting spectacle. A bevy of young pheasants, dozens of them, darting about with all the coordination of those small, ravenous Compsognathids from “Jurassic Park.” These birds, though one might mistakenly refer to them as wild, exhibited behaviour that was far more reminiscent of the neurotic denizens of a badly managed chicken farm. Their movements—erratic, panicked, utterly devoid of any natural grace—betrayed the depths of their confusion, their distress. One might almost feel sorry for them, if one were inclined to feel anything at all.

These particular pheasants are but a tiny fraction of the 40 million such creatures unleashed, or “put down”, upon our countryside—though perhaps ‘dumped’ is a more fitting term—by the pheasant shooting industry. They are bred, you see, not for food or to adorn the landscape, but purely to be shot. Yes, an alien biomass, 41,000 tonnes, unceremoniously deposited in our countryside. What a lovely gift to nature.¹Cocker, Mark. 2024. ‘Country Diary: If There’s Such a Thing as an Unnatural Bird, It’s This’, The Guardian (The Guardian) <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/06/country-diary-if-theres-such-a-thing-as-an-unnatural-bird-its-this> [accessed 8 August 2024]

The scale of this endeavour is nothing short of staggering. Where once hunting was a rugged pursuit tied to survival, it has now been transformed into a sort of blood-soaked assembly line. The disconnect from any notion of subsistence is so complete that the meat of these unfortunate birds is rarely consumed, particularly by those who take such pleasure in ending their lives. One might suspect that this reluctance stems partly from the fact that their flesh, like the shooting grounds themselves, is often tainted with lead. How fitting, then, that the carcasses of these birds frequently meet their end in incinerators or are simply dumped in stink pits.

In this grand industrial theatre of death, every detail aligns perfectly with the macabre spectacle of modern countryside business. It is all very efficient, very modern, and altogether revolting.

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  Cocker, Mark. 2024. ‘Country Diary: If There’s Such a Thing as an Unnatural Bird, It’s This’, The Guardian (The Guardian) <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/06/country-diary-if-theres-such-a-thing-as-an-unnatural-bird-its-this> [accessed 8 August 2024]