Each fall, some state wildlife agencies dump hundreds of thousands of non-native pheasants into the landscape for shooters. The pheasants are raised in barns and have no survival skills. If not shot, predators, exposure to the elements, or starvation kills the birds.

Pheasant stocking is a costly and cruel practice with no place in sound wildlife management.

Stocked birds grow up in a series of boxes and pens. Keepers sometimes cut off their beaks or put plastic "blinders" through their nose holes to prevent the crowded, stressed pheasants from pecking each other.

At some release sites, shooters wait in parking lots for trucks bringing crates of birds, or line up just before stocking to take the first shot.

Releasing pheasants from a truck at an announced date and time violates the fair chase principle that animals must have a reasonable chance to escape.