I AM writing in response to the letter by Ms Y Nicola, Postbag, September 27.

Rearing of pheasants is very short term, with release after between 10 and 14 weeks into the wild.

The conditions are still much better than any battery chicken operation and gamekeepers take care not to put undue stress or harm on the birds.

Your opinions throughout show a lack of actual experience of how rearing pheasants operates and by putting these comments about rare occurrences and widely unused tactics into the public domain is extremely unfair and brands all gamekeepers as cruel people who are trying to cause as much harm to wildlife and the environment as possible, quite the opposite is true really.

I would agree that the odd keeper in the UK is not up to standard in regards to rearing conditions and methods, but that is the same for every single aspect of life, quality does vary but any discerning shooter should pick carefully where he takes his business, the same as any shopper at a store.

Just ask the supplier of your game meat about the bird, the farm it was reared on and any other questions to have peace of mind.

I'm pretty sure that most gamekeepers don't go out killing otters, badgers and birds of prey and to make a blanket statement like this is infuriating. The installation of good fencing stops most of these conflicts and as pheasants are on the ground usually in cover it is only a very small amount that get predated on by birds of prey so an all out war would be a waste of time and effort.

If a bird is running injured from poor shooting it is searched for by retrieving dogs and by the beaters, and on all the shoots I have been on we spent a long time searching for any injured birds and even go out the next day if necessary, you make it sound like we don't care about animal welfare.

Precautions are taken against loss by predation and only in rare cases are animals killed in this manner, the majority of badgers shot are done so for their part in TB infections which affect farmers' livelihoods. If a quarter of your income was lost you would like to do something about it.

With all the commotion these days about food miles and the ridiculous carbon footprints on supermarket produce why don't people look more towards a seasonal, locally-sourced bird that is sustainably produced. I hope people are more open minded than to think that these rare and appalling acts of cruelty are commonplace and advocated by the rural community, who find such practices just as wrong as the urban population who are less educated in the workings of the countryside.

Patrick Burt Ash Thomas