10,000 Pheasants released for hunting season

[Catherine]

Ten thousand pheasants released for hunting season. That is ten thousand captive raised birds who are now being released so a hunter can shoot them. They wouldn't have the survival skills of a wild bird. These birds are being released to certain death.

http://fox13now.com/2017/10/28/utah-wild...ng-season/

I have a few questions that the article doesn't cover. Who would raise a pheasant like that just to send it out to be shot.
Who would want to shoot a bird who was lost and confused by its new environment. 
If they release 10,000 birds and there are twenty thousand hunters these are going to be a lot of wild birds that will die.

How can they hope to sustain the numbers when there are so many hunters.

[LPC]

This is disgraceful. There will be so many disorientated released birds that it will be a massacre. And they dare to call this "sport"? It is just organised mass slaughter.

I have another question, not directly related to animal welfare. These 10 000 pheasants are being released by Utah DWR, an official body, so does that mean that state money was used in captive breeding all these birds? Surely that it is abuse of public funds?

[Catherine]

Quote:I have another question, not directly related to animal welfare. These 10 000 pheasants are being released by Utah DWR, an official body, so does that mean that state money was used in captive breeding all these birds? Surely that it is abuse of public funds?

That is a really good point. I would say yes, public money was involved. After all the birds are being released by a government body. One thought, the government that pays to raise and release the birds also collects money for hunting licences. 
I suppose now we know why they do it. They make money from hunters.

The action itself is terrible. Ten thousand lost and frightened birds being slaughtered by hunters is brutal. It is a cruel massacre. 
There is no way to make this look good unless you are a hunter who sees killing vulnerable animals as a good thing. 
The more I get to know about hunters the less I like them.

[Catslave]

It makes me feel sick, read an article about a year ago that said there was a man in South Africa breeding lions for legalised hunting.

[Catherine]

There are places that raise animals for hunters to kill. It isn't just lions and pheasants. I think I have read about deer and elk being raised. It is a horrible practice. I have no respect for anyone that would do such a thing. I can't imagine what kind of mind even thought the idea up.