BANNING BATTERY CAGES FOR GAMEBIRDS

That this House notes with concern that several large game farms have introduced battery cage systems for game bird laying stock and that the available space in such cages is so limited that the welfare of the birds is seriously compromised and that the system does not conform, whether enriched or not, to the five freedoms which are the basis of the UK's animal welfare law; further notes that the British Association for Shooting and Conservation and the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals have separately called for such cages to be banned; and calls on the Government to implement option 3 from its draft Code of Practice within the consultation on game birds, a ban on such cages by regulation, or in the forthcoming statutory Code of Practice on game farming.