L214 draws new video on birds raised for hunting

A pheasant on the Gibovendée breeding site, in Deux-Sèvres.

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• L214 makes public a new investigation denouncing the conditions of breeding of birds intended to be released for hunting in the fall.

• Crowded in cages, they injure themselves while trying to escape and they are given a beak cover to prevent them from attacking each other.

• The association calls for a ban on this type of breeding and asks Euro tunnel to no longer transport day-old chicks produced by the company Gibovendée, targeted in this investigation.

"A rifle flesh factory" is the title of the new L214 survey posted online this Thursday at 11 pm.

The animal protection association worked in collaboration with Pierre Rigaux, naturalist, to denounce the conditions of rearing of pheasants and partridges intended to become the target of hunters. 

It is the site of Missé (Deux-Sèvres) of the French and European leader of the Gibovendée sector which was visited incognito by activists of the animal cause.

The company, contacted by

Wednesday, did not wish to comment before the images were released.

Thousands of cages are spread over the Gibovendée site in Deux-Sèvres.

- Sébastien Arsac / L214

Aerial views show an industrial farm of pheasants and partridges taking the form of several thousand cages lined up for hundreds of meters.

On the images shot by L214, we see the birds exhausted in fleeing, injuring themselves and for some dying by remaining stuck in the passages intended for the eggs.

The images essentially show the fate of the breeders in cages (Gibovendée announces that he has 300,000 in total).

A farm pheasant got his head stuck trying to escape.

- Sébastien Arsac / L214

Denatured animals

“To comply with the charter governing their breeding, these birds must look a bit wild but they are completely unsuitable when they are outside,” notes Pierre Rigaux.

Even if they are not killed by hunters in the end, they are victims of higher mortality because their parents, from whom they were separated, did not teach them to hunt ”.

They are also totally helpless in the face of predators such as foxes or martens and even in bad weather.

In short, the game has little chance of surviving when it is released during these releases, which mainly occur in the fall.

The naturalist also reports that many of these birds are seen wandering along the country roads. 

On the Gibovendée site, chicks of the same age are all gathered in the same place in semi-darkness.

"They are territorial birds and, locked in these conditions, they go crazy," said the naturalist.

It is for this reason that they are fitted with beak covers to prevent them from attacking each other ”.

A petition to stop breeding for hunting

Pierre Rigaux also considers that there is "an opacity of the functioning of the sector" since at the time of the releases, the hunting companies are not obliged to provide administrative declarations.

“It's when they want, where they want, which can cause disruption to ecosystems,” says the specialist.

He also says that releasing hundreds of birds in one place can promote disease transmission.

The L214 association calls for the cessation of breeding animals for hunting.

And, concerning the activity of the operator Gibovendée, it has initiated a petition so that its day-old chicks are no longer exported to the United Kingdom via Euro tunnel.

Shipping companies, under pressure from associations, no longer transport any more.

The association estimates that nine pheasants out of ten killed in hunting come from a breeding.

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• Poitou-Charentes

• Animal protection

• Breeding

• Hunt

• L214

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