MARCH 14, 2021

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Cruel Hunters Refuse to get the Lead out

By Barry Kent-McKay, Director

BBC news recently reported that, as the headline put it, “most pheasants sold for food ‘contain lead shot’” (https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56158777). In the UK, it is legal to sell Ring-necked Pheasants shot by hunters. This is the same species of pheasant found throughout much of temperate North America, where it is widely hunted. But so far as I know, it is illegal in any part of Canada for a licensed hunter to sell the meat of his victims. The birds are non-migratory and are managed at the provincial level.

Ring-necked pheasants were “introduced” to the UK around the 11^thcentury and to North America late in the 19^thcentury, with many re-introductions to both regions and other parts of the world since then. In Canada, the birds are captive-bred and sold in…