I AM not a radical conservationist and have no axe to grind but I feel Adrian Blackmore’s letter needs some balance.

Each year, around 35 million pheasants are reared for game shoots. Many are injured due to the nature of spread shot and survive to die in agony.

The shooting lobby say that pheasants are killed for food, but pheasant meat is not popular and the majority of birds are consigned to burial pits, but the wealthy ‘sportsmen’ have had their fun at £35 – £40 per bird shot. If you know a ‘keeper, you can purchase pheasant corpses for £0.50 - £1.00 each.

An estimated 4.5 million mammals and birds of prey are killed every year by gamekeepers in this country in the name of game bird protection.

The ‘keeper’s job is to keep the poults alive long enough to be slaughtered for fun. Doing this involves not only feeding them well but also killing predators such as stoats, weasels, badgers, otters, kestrels and buzzards.

Sometimes protected species, such as badgers, otters, wild cats, kestrels and owls fall victim to their snares and traps.

Wildlife management may be argued by some as a by-product of this activity but I am not convinced as these target creatures are mainly reared and produced primarily to be killed for pleasure.

Ron Leake, Cricketers Way, Andover.