Animal welfare campaigners today set their sights on a multi-million pound North industry, calling for the Government to expand anti-fox hunting legislation to cover pheasant shoots.

Country sports defenders in the region say the move would hurt the rural economy and claim the call shows that the hunting ban is only the thin end of the wedge.

In a statement released today, Animal Aid lambasted the pheasant-rearing industry as being where "factory farming meets blood sports", and urged ministers to follow the Dutch lead in totally banning shooting for pleasure.

Politicians in Holland first curbed pheasant shoots in 1986, and completely outlawed the activity in 2002 because it was judged to be "morally and environmentally unsupportable".

Animal Aid's director Andrew Tyler has since made the case for a ban to the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Environment, which is charged with advising the Government on the Animal Welfare Bill.

The call comes as the shooting industry gears up for the start of its four-month season on October 1, which is thought to be worth around £120m a year to the North-East alone.

"The suffering experienced by these birds while they are being fattened for the kill and as they repeatedly run the gauntlet of the guns, cannot plausibly be justified as necessary," said Mr Tyler.

"Like hunting with hounds, it's time this grotesque practice was consigned to the history books." Animal Aid claims to have undercover video footage of egg-production units, and says the conditions "comprehensively fail" the welfare test.

A new report by the organisation, entitled Fowl Play also claims to reveal birds being subjected to "unnecessary suffering".

But Richard Dodd, regional chairman of the Countryside Alliance, who runs a farm in Belsay, Northumberland, said: "Gamekeepers do a great job protecting the species and managing the moors. The shooting spend in Scotland is worth more than golf, and it's a big part of the North-East countryside economy.

"We said a fox hunting ban would be the thin end of the wedge, and here we are now talking about a ban on shooting. Fishing will be next."

Steve Woodhall, North-East regional officer for the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, said the practice wasn't only officially recognised by the Government through Defra, but also by English Nature and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

"This government has examined pheasant-rearing in detail over the last 18 months as part of the Animal Welfare Bill, and has found that it needs no further change or regulation," he said.

"It is already carried out according to a strict code of practice, and only last night at the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth, Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael praised shooting's role in conservation work.

"Shooting is a cause for good in the rural economy and in the conservation of the countryside." And he added: "We are not surprised that they have decided to target shooting next.

"Animal rights is a multi-million-pound business, and they will have to secure fresh markets now they believe they won a victory on fox hunting."