Two major French companies breeding game chicks under conditions that would be illegal in Britain are secretly using Eurotunnel to export their product to the UK where they are raised to be shot at on shooting estates. The whole process is objectionable.
Ferry companies have refused to transport the chicks. Joanna Lumley said the whole thing is ‘indefensible at every level’. She is absolutely correct of course.
Half of the 30 million pheasants and 6 million partridges reared on British game farms are imported from France as day-old chicks or hatching eggs. The French companies are Gibovendee and Envol de Retz.
The companies transport their ‘product’ to the UK in 3.5 tonne vans on the Eurotunnel passenger service. It seems that they do this (secretly) as animals cannot be transported on Eurotunnel’s freight service.
Surprisingly Eurotunnel said they were unaware of this objectionable behavior. A spokesperson said:
“We will look into the condition of the carriage for these companies with the relevant authorities.”
Eurotunnel spokesperson
It makes me wonder if they really were unaware of what was going on. The response is very vague.
The condition under which the chicks are reared on French farms would be a breach of UK law although their standards are allowed under EU law.
A spokesperson for the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) said:
“The overwhelming feeling when visiting these farms is despair… Eurotunnel should have a firm commitment to immediately stop the transport of pheasants and hatching eggs.”
Hunt Saboteurs Association
Chris Packham, the well-known TV presenter an conservationist said:
“We as conservationists have grave concerns about the environmental impact the vast number of pheasants put down in the UK are having.”
Chris Packham
As I said the entire chain events from rearing the chicks for their slaughter by shotgun in the UK is frankly disgusting and Eurotunnel are supporting it knowingly or not.
Source: The Times hardcopy.
