Another badger dies after being caught in snare
Yet another badger has died after becoming trapped in a snare. This needless death is a reminder that whatever the result of the election on 4 July, the new government MUST make all snares illegal. The badger was found in a garden in Belper, Derbyshire, on 10 June, having struggled a short distance from where […]
THE KILLING CONTINUES: Defra issue new badger cull licences
Earlier this year, Defra (the government department working on behalf of the hunting, shooting, farming and fishing industries) launched a ‘sham consultation’, allegedly seeking input for plans to continue killing badgers for the dairy industry. If the government were to go ahead with those plans, licences might be indefinitely issued to kill 100% of badgers […]
Government badger cull plans on hold
Back in March, Defra (the government department working on behalf of the hunting, shooting, farming and fishing industries) launched a ‘sham consultation’, allegedly seeking input for its pre-decided plans to continue killing badgers for the dairy industry. If the government were to go ahead with those plans, Natural England would issue licences indefinitely to kill 100% […]
Campaigners demand Oxford University scientists speak out against badger extermination
Oxfordshire Badger Group has delivered a petition and an open letter to Oxford University. The campaigners say that the biology department must break its silence and speak out against the badger cull, which has so far killed more than 230,000 badgers in England. The petition has more than 13,000 signatures so far: add yours. The […]
19,570 badgers were needlessly murdered in 2023. Sign our petition to stop the killing.
The government has released its latest figures on its annual badger cull, and the news is devastating. Another 19,570 badgers lost their lives in 2023, bringing the total murdered since 2013 to more than 230,000. Only a change in government will stop this senseless crime. Every year for the past decade, England’s badgers have been […]
Join our call to protect badgers
Join our call to Protect Badgers One of the country’s most iconic and most protected wild animals is being destroyed. Urged on by the National Farmers Union, what started as a four-year trial killing 70% of badgers in limited areas has now swelled into an all-out attack Already killed in huge numbers on our roads […]
Ireland: Badgers, wildlife crime, and a dangerous legal precedent
(This post has been written in collaboration with Ruairí Ó Leocháin of ‘Stand with Badgers’. Please note Ruari’s ask at the bottom of the page.) Speaking on wildlife crime in the Irish Examiner last December, veteran environmentalist and Green Party Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan said “We are seeing […]
Holderness Hunt kill badger – and run away!
On 27 January this year, Hull Wildlife Protectors (HWP) were monitoring the Holderness Hunt (who are based at Etton, near Beverly) when they witnessed a fox fleeing across one of the region’s wide flat fields. Huntsman Tom Wright (formerly with the notorious Cheshire Forest Hunt) was seen to deliberately lead the hunt’s hounds along the […]
Badger Cull U-Turn: “Sunak now wants all the badgers dead”
Sunak now wants all the badgers dead and this looks like a last chance grab at getting widespread culling back in place so it is difficult for Labour to scrap it as promised, in favour of the urgent cattle testing policy revisions that Defra have suppressed with their BTB partnership cabal which was recently exposed on the Badger Crowd website.”
Llanberis man guilty of interfering with badger sett
35-year-old John Riley, from Llanberis, has pleaded guilty to interfering with a badger sett, and has been fined a pitiful £242 at Caernarfon Magistrates’ Court. He must also pay prosecution costs of £400. Riley had previously pleaded not guilty, but changed his plea ahead of trial. He was charged with sett interference “by causing a […]
Government set to announce ALL badgers can be culled in specific areas
The government is likely to make an announcement that it is to cull 100% of badgers in specific areas of England from 2026. Back in early 2023, we wrote about Defra’s plan, but it was yet to be officially announced. Now the Independent has stated that the news is likely to become official within the […]
Sick gamekeeper filmed badger torture for social media
A Scottish gamekeeper set his dogs on foxes and badgers, filming the attacks to make money. Like other men before him, his desire to brag about his acts is what incriminated him. Ryan Martin, from Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire, was convicted on 5 December. He pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to three dogs under his […]
Equipment Fund #10: Monitoring badger setts in Derbyshire
One of the UK’s most charismatic mammals, badgers are also one of the country’s most persecuted. Since the government began an ‘experiment’ in badger annihilation on behalf of the dairy industry (tearing up the Protection of Badgers Act 1992), hundreds of thousands have been slaughtered (see ‘The biggest wildlife genocide of our time is happening […]
VICTORY: Plans for Northern Ireland badger cull quashed
Good news! Wild Justice and the Northern Ireland Badger Group (NIBG) have announced that they have won a judicial review, stopping the proposed badger cull in Northern Ireland. The press release from their solicitors, Leigh Day, states: “In a judgement handed down in Belfast this morning, Wednesday 25 October 2023, it was ruled that the […]
Labour pledges to end badger cull
The government’s annual badger cull is nearing an end, at least for 2023. For almost two months, cull contractors have been out in force, luring England’s badgers into fields with peanuts and then shooting them dead. Meanwhile, Labour has announced that it will end the cull for good if elected. At the start of the […]
FOIs reveal Badger cull approved in National Nature Reserves
UK authorities have permitted badger control operations to take place in England’s nature havens, according to new revelations. Freedom of Information requests involving Natural England, the Forestry Commission, and Forestry England, show that badger control activities, including culling in some instances, have been permitted in various nationally important nature areas since at least 2016. A […]
London Badger Cull Protest – Protesting a Decade of Dead Badgers
Please help protest a decade of the badger cull by coming to London on October 20th. Over the past 10 years, the government has licenced the deaths of a quarter of a million Badgers to protect the dairy industry from a disease of their own making – bovineTB. One of our most protected mammals, 260,000 […]
Protecting the Wild Equipment Fund #7: Somerset Badger Monitors
One of the UK’s most charismatic mammals, badgers are also one of the country’s most persecuted. Despite being made illegal in 1835 badger baiting still takes place across the UK. Fox hunts illegally block badger setts to stop foxes hiding underground. And of course since the government began an ‘experiment’ in badger annihilation on behalf […]
Ex-jockey jailed for badger baiting after horrific footage found on phone
23-year-old ex-jockey Brandon Lawlor has been jailed for eight weeks, guilty of badger baiting in a prosecution brought by the RSPCA. Footage found on his phone was described as “absolutely horrific” by the charity. The video was discovered by the police in August 2021, while they were investigating Lawlor for an unrelated offence. The footage […]
BADGERS SAVED! With your help, this community has protected badgers!
A community in Saltdean, East Sussex, has protected a badger sett from being destroyed by developers. Their story is an inspiration to us all and a perfect example of how we can save wildlife if we work together. Protect the Wild supporters’ donations were also vital in helping the community purchase the land and save […]
Newly released figures show the badger cull is far from winding down
The government has published the number of badgers it wants to kill this year as part of the cull to reduce bovine TB (bTB). Despite having announced the badger cull is winding up, the figures remain gut-wrenchingly high. On 7 September, DEFRA published its document setting out the minimum and maximum number of badgers it […]
Equipment Fund #4: Kirklees Badger Protection Group
One of the UK’s most charismatic mammals, badgers are instantly recognisable. While most people love them, badgers are also one of the country’s most persecuted animals. Despite being made illegal in 1835 badger baiting still takes place across the UK. Fox hunts illegally block badger setts to stop foxes hiding underground. And of course since […]
This community urgently needs your help to save badgers
Despite being a protected animal, badgers are perhaps our most persecuted species. One community in Saltdean, near Brighton, is urgently trying to save a sett of badgers from developers, and they need your help. Protect the Wild spoke to resident Debbie Julians, who, along with her neighbours, is trying to raise enough money to buy […]
Sad Badgers: Protesting the badger cull in Oxford
Yesterday Protect the Wild joined masked- and badger-suited members of the Oxford Badger Coalition and Oxfordshire Badger Group on the streets of Oxford. Under sunny skies and humid conditions (which made wearing a furry, cumbersome badger suit very hard work indeed so kudos to Betty and the rest!) we found ourselves in the midst of […]
Oxfordshire: ‘Sad Badger’ protests government cull strategy
‘Sad Badger’, an activist from the Oxford Badger Coalition, sat under the Buttercross in Witney’s Market Square on the 17th of July to protest the government’s badger cull with placards saying ‘I am sad’ and ‘Oxfordshire’s badger shame’. The flawed and highly contested ‘badger cull’ is run by the Department for Environment Food and Rural […]
The government has set out its stall over culling badgers, and it’s not pretty
Environment secretary Thérèse Coffey said that she won’t keep to “artificial deadlines” over ending the badger cull. And her words come just as plans were confirmed for tens of thousands more deaths at the hands of farmers. At the opening of the Royal Cornwall Show, Coffey told the public that she believes there is “no […]
New badger cull licences risk ‘as many as 29,000’ more lives this year
The government has announced licences for 11 new supplementary badger cull zones. While the ‘intensive culls’ are set to end, the new licences show that the massacre of badgers is far from over. Badger cull from Cornwall to Staffordshire Natural England published 11 new supplementary cull licences on 7 June. They cover areas of Avon, […]
Northumberland: Badger suffers excruciating death in snare
Another badger has died unnecessarily after getting caught in an illegal snare in Northumberland. The RSPCA was called out to the badger after receiving a call from the public. The charity said that the snare had become embedded in the creature’s neck and had to be cut out in three different places. The RSPCA’s Rachael […]
Damning new report slates government’s future plans to annihilate badgers
The government has said that it will end the badger cull as we know it by 2026. But it will replace intensive four-year culling with a plan to murder 100% of badgers in specific areas of England. Now a new report – authored by independent researchers, veterinarians, and epidemiologists – argues that these continued plans […]
Northern Ireland: men responsible for fate of badgers have vested interest in cull
Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) is inching closer to culling badgers after it asked companies to submit “expressions of interests to deliver the culling element” of its bovine TB (bTB) strategy. The deadline for applications is today (21 April 2023). The government department said that it will introduce culls in […]
The government murdered 33,627 badgers in 2022. It tested zero for bovine TB
The government, influenced by its farming lobby friends, continues to scapegoat badgers for the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB). Yet it didn’t test one of the 33,627 badgers culled in 2022 for the disease. Natural England, which works on behalf of Defra, recently published its figures of the number of badgers murdered in the 2022 […]
Government sanctions killing of 7,500 badgers in Avon since 2019
England’s badger population is being annihilated, and one of the worst-hit areas is Avon, in the southwest. 1,521 badgers were murdered in the region throughout September and October 2022 during the government’s annual cull. Avon has two ‘cull zones’ which Natural England issues licences for. One zone was in its fourth and final year of […]
Natural England just published figures for the 2022 badger cull and they’re heartbreaking
Natural England has just released figures for the number of badgers murdered by its cull in 2022. And the numbers for the cull’s decade anniversary make for bleak reading. On 5 April, Natural England published its review of figures for the intensive and supplementary phases of the badger cull during 2022. Defra organises the cull […]
Natural England has been covertly expanding badger cull areas
The government’s annual badger cull, which began in 2013, has always been shrouded in secrecy. And now Freedom of Information (FOI) responses reveal the extent of Natural England’s underhanded tactics as it murders our beloved species. Environmental journalist Tracy Keeling accessed the FOI requests, and reported her findings in the Canary. She found that since […]
As Defra ends vaccination scheme, the fate of badgers is bleak
As the government’s badger bovine tuberculosis (bTB) vaccination scheme comes to an end, campaigners have accused Defra of pulling the rug from under them. The Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme (BAVS) was due to run from 2019 to 2023. The government provided some funding towards private projects to vaccinate badgers in the so-called ‘Edge Area’ – […]
A second illegal snare has been found wrapped around a badger near Colchester
A dead badger was found, “almost garrotted”, laying in a ditch near Colchester. It was a grim sight found by members of a local badger group. But it wasn’t the time first time that the group had visited the area due to reports of an illegally snared badger. North East Essex Badger Group said it […]
Ban hunting to tackle badger baiting says USPCA
The Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (USPCA) launched a report on badger baiting in Northern Ireland. And as part of the strategy to end the cruel pastime, it’s reinforcing calls for a ban on hunting with hounds in the country. The USPCA launched Badger Baiting in Northern Ireland on 7 March […]
Snared badger disappears leaving only pool of blood
Essex Police are investigating after blood was found by a snare. A member of the public reported finding a badger trapped in the device. But by the time police arrived, the creature had gone. As local paper the Daily Gazette reported, the incident occurred on 25 February and involved a dog-walker finding a badger struggling […]
Natural England asks for public comments on more badger culling
On 20 February, Natural England launched an online survey, giving the public the opportunity to comment after it had “received applications or expressions of interest for a Supplementary Badger Disease Control Licence within the counties of Herefordshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Avon.” But if you’re about to click on the survey, don’t for one moment think that […]
Stark images of a snared badger highlight the need to ban snares now
A badger was found caught in a snare on the outskirts of a town in Northamptonshire. And images of the creature reveal just how cruel the devices are. On 3 February, Northamptonshire Badger Group said on Facebook that it had spent five hours searching for an injured badger “through fields, brambles and thick hedges”. The […]
Police are investigating the Wynnstay Hunt for interfering with a badger sett
North Wales Police are investigating two men for interfering with a badger sett. And video shows the suspects running away the moment they’re caught. Footage released by the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) on 17 February shows two men escaping on a quad bike after they were confronted by sabs. The 27-second video shows the cameraperson […]
In his new TV show, Jeremy Clarkson laments that you can’t shoot or gas badgers
The badger is Britain’s most persecuted animal. It is attacked on many fronts – by the government during its annual badger cull, by badger baiters, and by the fox hunting community. But in his new programme, Clarkson’s Farm, Jeremy Clarkson spouts dangerous lies about the creatures. And now the Badger Trust has hit out at […]
Badgers and the Law
Badgers and the Law Badgers are protected in law by the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 (passed to consolidate law previously contained in the Badgers Act 1973, the Badgers Act 1991 and the Badgers (Further Protection) Act 1991) and so are their setts (setts include entrances, tunnels, and underground chambers). Licences may be granted by […]
Badger baiting: yet another arrest made
It’s thought that more than 10,000 badgers are murdered by baiters every year in the UK. And on 25 January yet another man was arrested on suspicion of badger baiting in North Yorkshire. Yorkshire Live reported that the man, in his twenties, was found with three injured dogs. The news website reported: “Police found a […]
GUILTY: Terrierman convicted under Protection of Badgers Act
On 27 January 2023, Devon County Hunt Saboteurs (DCHS) announced that sabs had secured yet another conviction. Spooners and West Dartmoor Hunt terrierman Mark Harris was found guilty under the Protection of Badgers Act after sabs caught terriermen digging out a badger sett. DCHS said: “Sabs’ actions on the day not only saved the fox’s […]
Badgers face daily persecution recently blocked setts show
Police in two counties are appealing for information following the discovery of blocked badger setts. And it’s a reminder that one of Britain’s most iconic mammals continues facing daily persecution. On 23rd January, news reports came out of blocked badger setts found in both Lincolnshire and Worcestershire. LincolnshireLive said that police had launched a public […]
A badger rescue story shows why snares must be outlawed immediately
A young badger was trapped for days and left struggling to escape from an illegal snare in Scotland. Images show a worker from a local animal hospice rescuing the creature. And now the woman that rescued her wants an end to the practice of snaring altogether. Scottish paper the Daily Record reported on 5 January […]
Police investigating Essex and Suffolk Hunt after fox bolts from badger sett
Suffolk Police is investigating the Essex and Suffolk Hunt after monitors witnessed members of the hunt trying to force a fox to bolt from a badger sett. The incident happened during the hunt’s Boxing Day meet – the most important day in the hunting calendar. While the hunt master was giving his speech, wildlife monitors […]
What have badgers go to do with the bird shooting industry?
What have badgers got to do with bird shooting? Badgers have been hunted, baited, mistreated, exploited, and treated appallingly by humans for centuries. Both they and their setts are now protected by the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, but since the start of the badger cull – the government-sanctioned killing of a protected species to […]
Two brothers were jailed after using a spade to ‘bludgeon’ a badger
A magistrate has handed two brothers jail terms for badger baiting. Both denied their criminal activities even as they were convicted. But details of the incident revealed a scene of abject horror. The trial, brought by the RSPCA, was originally held on 16 November. Evidence presented that day revealed that brothers Dale and Michael Rickerby […]
Baiters in Norfolk are torturing badgers to gain social media status
Masked-up groups in Norfolk are setting their dogs on badgers to kill them, according to local news website Norwich Evening News. The website reported that the gangs are often livestreaming their kills so that viewers can bet on the outcome of the fights between the badgers and the dogs. Norwich Evening News said: “Kevin Murphy, […]
Hero left for dead by badger baiters receives award
A heroic former sab violently attacked by badger baiters last year has received an award for his work to protect badgers and other wildlife. Daniel, who at the time was colloquially known as ‘Puffer’, was knocked unconscious by a group of five badger baiters in Darcy Lever in April last year. He discovered the men […]
