24 dead pheasants – tied together in pairs – have washed up on the shoreline between Totland and Colwell this week.
Local resident Shelley Cook was walking her dog along the West Wight coast yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) when she noticed the animals floating on the surface of the water. According to Shelley, the pheasants were tied in pairs with at least 12 pairs visible.
It has been reported within the community that shooting for game has been taking place in the West Wight recently, including near the banks of the River Yar – with many discussions over whether this is legal due to the protected nature of the area.
It’s suggested that the deceased animals have been discarded following a shoot – but the source is unknown. The tieing together suggests it is not an act of nature.
Commenting on the West Wight Wild Facebook Page, one local has said:
“I have hunted for game in the past but never for grins and giggles. If they [the unknown] were throwing pheasants in the ocean they were not only greedy about taking the pheasants’ life when they didn’t need food, but also endangering any predatory sea life by binding them together with plastic rope”.
Local wildlife rescue specialist Edward Burden has confirmed that the birds were indeed pheasants, but sadly all were deceased.
Where’s Azis when you need him.
Don’t worry he’ll have his say because Aziz haz da anzerz
He thinkz he duz!
We don’t need him.
When you go to the supermarket and see all that perfect produce irrespective of whether its fruit, veg or meat there is a huge heap of waste that never gets to be sold but one way or another is recycled. In this case it might be discarded birds unfit for human consumption used as crab bait?
It’s obviously just from a local shoot.. still not good should deposit them some where better then the sea!!
If you must shoot game birds at least eat them.
Why would any shooter discard his bag of pheasants? Strange.
Probably because they are full of shot and no good to eat. It’s what happens when inexperienced people go on shoots for the “fun” of it. Some of the people running shoots just take the money and are not interested in how good any of their clients are with a gun.
As always, cruelty fully ok, be it shooting birds ‘for fun’ or fox hunting, hare coursing and grouse shooting, so long as it is the well to do, doing such.
If it were ONLY the working class doing such, it would have be banned years ago.
How do you know it isn’t a working class shooter?
Lots of working class go on these shoots .
Go to one .you will meet people from all walks of life .
Really?
You buy the latest phone with a 11mp camera and that’s the best photo you could take?
The thing is that every keeper on the island knows how many birds they have shot and they know who’s taken alot of birds and dumped them.
You’ll have to forgive me (I’ve had a very quiet day) but the news item above states – ‘The tieing together suggests it is not an act of nature’ – Suggests? I think we can safely say that 24 pheasants tied together in pairs is most definitely not an act of nature! LOL