This year's pheasant shooting season will open amid controversy about alleged links to wildlife crime, a charity warned yesterday.

As many as 100,000 birds are shot for sport every day during the season which begins from October 1, the League Against Cruel Sports says.

The league claims that the commercial shooting industry exploits loopholes in animal welfare laws and damages the environment.

Research by the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs also shows that caged pheasants and partridges suffer painful open sores on their feet caused by the wire mesh floor they are kept on for up to three months before being released to be shot.

The charity's acting CEO Philippa King said: "With evidence mounting against the industry's poor animal welfare practices and its links to the persecution of wildlife, the time for an independent inquiry into the UK shooting industry is long overdue."