Even the purists of the shooting world struggle to eat the vast quantities of animals whom they kill, the deputy editor of Shooting Times' recently let slip.

This member of the shooting crowd's inner circle described a backlog of game in my freezer' including pheasants, ducks and masses of pigeon'.

Pheasants are factory-farmed so that they can be shot a practice defended by its advocates with the argument that most of the birds are eaten.

Over recent years it has emerged that only a minority of the animals make it as far as the dinner table, with large numbers being buried in specially dug pits or dying before they can be shot.

Animal Aid is calling for a ban on the breeding of pheasants for sport shooting.

For a copy of Fowl Play the report making the case for a ban visit www.animalaid.org.uk

Chris Anderson, Campaigns Officer, Animal Aid