City MP supports ban on battery cages for gamebirds

Celia Barlow, Labour MP for Hove and Portslade, has signed a Parliamentary motion calling for a ban on battery cages for pheasants and partridges.

The Government is currently consulting on a possible ban - arising from the Animal Welfare Act. There are currently only two large gamefarms out of around 300 using battery cages in England. Birds that are kept in cages can suffer from wounding, disease and even death.

Celia has also written to the Animal Welfare Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick MP, to urge the Government to consider a ban.

Speaking about a possible ban, Ms Barlow said, ‘The UK holds impressively high animal rights standards, and it is important that we build on these standards. Banning battery cages for gamebirds would be a significant step, and I hope that the Government will ban this practice.'