Animal Aid

To ___________________________________MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

Re: EDM 224

I am writing to ask you to add your signature to Early Day Motion 224, tabled by Adrian Sanders MP, against the use of battery cages for ‘game birds’ kept for breeding purposes.

DEFRA Minister, Jim Paice, withdrew a Code of Practice for game bird production that would have outlawed battery cages for breeding pheasants, and replaced it with one that will effectively allow the cages to stay – albeit in their so-called ‘enriched’ form.

The enriched cages do nothing to improve the miserable and bleak existence of the incarcerated birds. Typically, the cages have a green plastic ‘curtain’ set towards the back of the cage for ‘privacy’ and a piece of dowel suspended on two bricks for perching. Animal Aid has several times filmed the ‘enriched’ version and they report that they are just as bleak and oppressive as the barren cage.

The EDM states:
That this House notes that the new Minister of State at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has withdrawn the new code of practice for game bird production made under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and that the effect of this decision will be to overturn a ban on battery cages for breeding pheasants; further notes that the code was the product of years of evidence gathering and public consultation, and that the battery cage ban had the support of Britain's leading pro-shooting lobby group, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation; and therefore opposes any move that would legitimise battery or raised laying cages for game birds.

Please lend your support to this important EDM.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours sincerely

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