The owners of Gregynog Hall have been urged to ban pheasant shooting on it's grounds by an animal welfare charity.

The League Against Cruel Sports has called upon the University of Wales to stop allowing shooting on its countryside campus near Tregynon.

According to the group, twenty-five pheasant shoots are held on the university’s grounds each year with what they say is "a significant negative impact on wildlife and the environment".

Andrew Knott MBE, CEO of the League Against Cruel Sports and University of Wales alumnus, has written to the Vice Chancellor, Medwin Hughes, ahead of the opening of the pheasant shooting season earlier this month.

"The University of Wales is blessed with a beautiful campus and fantastic students. It’s a real shame that they are continuing to associate themselves with birds being blasted out of the sky for fun, which most people want to see stopped," he wrote.

"The release of large numbers of non-indigenous pheasants, which have been factory farmed for the gun, inflicts clear damage on wildlife and the environment at the University of Wales’ Gregynog Hall. Not only does this invasion of ‘game’ birds displace native wild birds and upset the delicate ecology, but further introduces disease and threatens rare butterfly species. Natural predators including foxes, stoats and weasels – drawn in by the potential prey – are subsequently trapped and shot.

"Universities should be forward-thinking, not dragged backwards by cruel traditions. I really hope the Vice Chancellor listens to our request with an open mind.”

The university’s present lease with game bird shooting organisation Bettws Hall, is set to expire in February 2019. The League is asking for it not to be renewed.

A spokesperson for the University of Wales said it had received the letter, and was currently 'reviewing' it's arrangements for Gregynog Hall.

"The University of Wales has received the correspondence from the League Against Cruel Sports, and is currently in the process of reviewing the structure and arrangements for Gregynog, and the correspondence will be considered in due course," they said.

Last month, Natural Resources Wales voted not to renew shooting licences on sites in Wales, a move which Brecon and Radnor MP Chris Davies described as "hypocritical, inconsistent and ignorant".