Roadrunners on the Forest Track: The Hidden Toll of Mass Gamebird Releases

A covey of Red-legged Partridges scuttles down the dirt track ahead of our pickup, much as the Roadrunner flees Wile E. Coyote in the old children’s cartoon. A few pheasants that survived last year’s shooting season run with them. The birds show little wish to fly. When they finally lift off, after a frantic flurry of wingbeats, they glide about 20 metres and land on the road again. This does not bode well for the forthcoming “sport”. Red-legged Partridges normally favour open arable farmland, downland and lowland edge, so finding them in a coniferous upland plantation is odd.

The scene is common enough. Each year, landowners release up to 57 million non-native pheasants and partridges into the British countryside ¹Monbiot, George. “Britain’s pheasant shooting season has begun. And a year-round massacre makes it possible.” The Guardian, 6 Oct. 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/06/britain-open-season-pheasant-shooting-class-politics.. On the day of release, these birds weigh more than all the native wild birds of the United Kingdom in spring ²Wild Justice. “Private Eye and unpleasant Pheasant facts.” Wild Justice, https://wildjustice.org.uk/gamebird-releases/private-eye-and-unpleasant-pheasant-facts/..

The damage is considerable. About a quarter of the released birds die from exposure or predation before shooting begins, which artificially raises the numbers of generalist predators, and these then take a heavy toll of native ground-nesting species ³Goulson, Dave. “The ecological impacts of game shooting.” *YouTube*, uploaded by Dave Goulson, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaveGoulson.. Ticks in gamebird release woodlands are 2.5 times more likely to carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease ⁴Raptor Persecution UK. “Ticks found in pheasant-release woods 2.5 times more likely to carry Lyme disease bacteria.” Raptor Persecution UK, 21 Apr. 2025, https://raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/04/21/ticks-found-in-pheasant-release-woods-2-5-times-more-likely-to-carry-lyme-disease-bacteria/https://raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/04/21/ticks-found-in-pheasant-release-woods-2-5-times-more-likely-to-carry-lyme-disease-bacteria/.. Crowded pens help Avian Influenza to spread, and rearers inflict welfare mutilations such as beak bits and spectacles ⁵Defra. Call for Evidence on Gamebird Release, Shooting and Welfare during Rearing in England. Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, 4 Sept. 2026.. Mass releasing of gamebirds upsets the balance of the countryside, and it does so in full view of anyone who cares to look.

• 1
  Monbiot, George. “Britain’s pheasant shooting season has begun. And a year-round massacre makes it possible.” The Guardian, 6 Oct. 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/06/britain-open-season-pheasant-shooting-class-politics. ↩︎
• 2
  Wild Justice. “Private Eye and unpleasant Pheasant facts.” Wild Justice, https://wildjustice.org.uk/gamebird-releases/private-eye-and-unpleasant-pheasant-facts/. ↩︎
• 3
  Goulson, Dave. “The ecological impacts of game shooting.” *YouTube*, uploaded by Dave Goulson, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaveGoulson. ↩︎
• 4
  Raptor Persecution UK. “Ticks found in pheasant-release woods 2.5 times more likely to carry Lyme disease bacteria.” Raptor Persecution UK, 21 Apr. 2025, https://raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/04/21/ticks-found-in-pheasant-release-woods-2-5-times-more-likely-to-carry-lyme-disease-bacteria/https://raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/04/21/ticks-found-in-pheasant-release-woods-2-5-times-more-likely-to-carry-lyme-disease-bacteria/. ↩︎
• 5
  Defra. Call for Evidence on Gamebird Release, Shooting and Welfare during Rearing in England. Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, 4 Sept. 2026. ↩︎