Charities warn badger cull could lead to local extinctions
Charities fear badger cull could lead to local extinction. Charities have warned that going ahead with the badger cull again this year could place badgers at risk of “local extinction” in parts of England and have called for a suspension of the programme. The Badger Trust is leading a call to immediately suspend the […]
Badger cull horror exposed
BADGER CULLHORROR EXPOSED HITStatement 2018 Covert cameras placed by the Hunt Investigation Team on vulnerable, unprotected badger setts in the Cumbria cull zone revealed for the first time the true horror of the badger cull. HIT’s team has protected badgers in multiple cull zones for many years. In 2018 hidden cameras were placed in order […]
Investigators expose reality of the badger cull
In their own words: investigators expose the reality of the badger cull In October 2022, badger cull investigators sent Protect the Wild video and photographs taken using hidden and handheld cameras at what is described by its owner – Mick Wills, a former huntmaster of the Grafton Hunt – as a pet crematorium. The undercover […]
Grafton badger cull investigation dismissed as ‘trespass’
Life Peer Lord Benyon responds to question about Grafton Pet Crematorium investigation raised in House of Lords by Natalie, Lady Bennett. In early October Protect the Wild posted undercover footage taken by investigators over a three-week period at Grafton Pet Crematorium in Northamptonshire. The material we uploaded showed badger cull operators working at the crematorium. […]
Badger Cull
The Badger Cull The government-sanctioned slaughter of a protected species As a ‘wildlife-first’ organisation, Protect the Wild is totally opposed to the badger ‘cull’. Since it began as a ‘trial’ in 2013, badgers have been killed in huge numbers to protect the dairy industry from bovine TB – a disease of cattle. The government’s kill […]
2022 Badger cull expose
Badger Cull 2022 Investigation This shocking footage exposes the badger cull for the sham that it is. A cruel, costly and ineffective mass slaughter of tens of thousands of badgers and for what? Dead badgers tipped into an open-air skip, operators with no regard for potential biohazards, unbagged gutted carcasses left inside a van, reckless […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.”
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% […]
THE KILLING CONTINUES: Defra orders 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 […]
Flawed science to take center stage in Brian May’s explosive badger cull doc
The BBC will air the documentary Brian May – The Badgers, the Farmers, and Me on 23 August. The landmark film, which was four years in the making, promises to expose the flawed science behind the controversial badger cull. This years-long policy has seen over 230,000 of the beloved mammals killed in the English countryside. […]
SHOCKING MOVE: Labour expands badger cull?
Ahead of winning the recent general election, the Labour Party wooed nature-loving voters by vowing to “end the ineffective badger cull” in its manifesto. However, it appears the government is now considering expanding the cull, after just over one month in power. The badger cull, which has now been running for over a decade, has […]
Labour government bins inherited badger cull plan
In some rare good news for badgers, the Labour government has binned proposals it inherited from the Conservative government that involved further potentially large-scale killing of the iconic mammal. The move is undoubtedly a welcome one for the conservationists, veterinarians, and organisations, that have been calling for an end to the badger cull. But what […]
‘New’ badger cull policy: still not good for badgers
On 30 August, Defra announced “Government to end badger cull with new TB eradication strategy”. It was, they said, the “first Bovine TB strategy in a decade to end the badger cull and drive down TB rates to protect farmers’ livelihood.” This announcement came less than two months after Labour was elected. They had promised […]
Speaking up for badgers at the Court of Appeal
Speaking up for badgers at the Court of Appeal On July 21st I posted a podcast (Badger Culls, Biodiversity, Birds, and the High Court) with ecologists Tom Langton and Dominic Woodfield which looked at the background to a challenge they were taking to the Court of Appeal on July 26th (yesterday). The conversation was complex […]
Defra refusing Woodcock the protection they need
Defra and Woodcocks – government won’t protect Woodcock so we must The government recently responded to an online petition to ‘Limit the Shooting Season of Woodcock’ launched by Wild Justice (Mark Avery, Ruth Tingay, and Chris Packham). I’ve already blogged about this petition and my hesitancy to sign it but in case you don’t have […]
Badger Persecution
End Badger Persecution With their stripey faces, twinkling eyes, and starring roles in many children’s books and films, badgers are one of the most beloved of British mammals – but also one of the most persecuted. The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 makes it an offence to wilfully kill, injure, cruelly ill-treat, or take a badger […]
Our Campaigns
Our Campaigns Our campaigns will continue to push to end hunting and shooting in the UK and empower people to protect British wildlife. End Hunting We want a proper ban on all hunting with hounds End Hunting We want a proper ban on all hunting with hounds Learn More End Shooting We want to end […]
Adopt a badger
ADOPT A BADGER TODAY Although one of the UK’s most recognisable species and fully protected in law, the badger is under threat. As many as 250,000 badgers have already been killed in the government’s ineffective BovineTB control cull and despite the change of government more are slated to die in the coming years. Many more […]
Undercover Investigations
Undercover Investigations A key element of our mission to expose wildlife criminals and end the persecution of wildlife in the British countryside is through supporting hard-hitting exposés. That’s why undercover investigations and covert operations are at the heart of what we do – and always will be. We ringfence funding to support ground-breaking operations uncovering […]
Badger facts
The Badger Scientific name: Meles meles At a glance Badgers are the UK’s largest remaining terrestrial mammalian predator. Despite being outlawed in 1835 badger baiting still takes place illegally across the UK Since 2013 around 260,000 badgers have been killed in an attempt to control Bovine TB – a disease of cattle. Everyone knows what […]
News
NEWS Breaking news on our work and issues affecting wildlife. We update our site regularly so check back here or subscribe to our newsletter. You can also follow us on our socials to keep up to date. Latest newsFoxShootingRaptor PersecutionBadgerDeerInvestigateCampaign Latest news Cat found nearly ‘cut in two’ after a snare wrapped around his stomach […]
FAQs
Protect the Wild FAQs What is Protect the Wild’s mission statement? Our mission statement is to empower people to protect British wildlife. We do that in different ways including: supporting front line groups; providing information through our Substack, animations, and social media; and campaigning hard for legislative change. Ultimately our aim is to end hunting, […]
Protect the Wild: a new chapter
Protect the Wild: new chapter in the fight to end wildlife persecution I set up Keep the Ban as nothing more than a Facebook page with 0 followers in 2015. I was sickened and angered by the possibility of fox hunting becoming legal again and the ban on hunting wild mammals being overturned.Fast-forward over seven […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Arrests and the Law
Arrests and the Law The police have powers to arrest an individual anywhere and at any time, including on the street, at home or at work – but to arrest someone the police need reasonable grounds to suspect they are involved in a crime for which arrest is necessary. Arrest is usually the first stage […]
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’ – […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Farming industry reports cattle-to-cattle transmission ‘most common form’ of bTB spread
A recent study in Northern Ireland has found that cows are more likely to transmit bovine tuberculosis (bTB) through contact with each other, than through contact with badgers. The research was conducted by the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), and the findings were published to the public on 25 May 2023. The researchers used samples […]
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 […]
Natural England’s Tony Juniper: overseeing the devastation of England’s biodiversity
The chair of Natural England (the government’s adviser for the natural environment in England) has hypocritically argued that England “is going to have to work much harder” if it wants to meet biodiversity targets. In his role, Tony Juniper is actively responsible for the loss of biodiversity. The Tories’ biodiversity targets have already been called […]
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 […]
A ‘nation of animal lovers’, more like a nation of wildlife killers
In the UK, we pride ourselves as being a nation that loves animals. We donate readily to the Dogs Trust or to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, while 53% of us has a pet. Our pets are protected from abuse under the Animal Welfare Act, and a person can be prosecuted if the animal’s needs […]
Animal Rescue: Charlie’s Place
Run by Claire and Will, Charlie’s Place is a small grass-roots animal sanctuary set on a plot of land in the Peak District which (to quote a flyer we picked up) gives “a forever home to animals in need”.
The biggest wildlife genocide of our time is happening right now
It’s the start of September, which means that badgers are being mass-murdered as you read this. If you’re scrolling through this article just as the sun has gone down, badgers will be coming out of their setts in the countryside near you right now. At the same time, government-sanctioned shooters will be lined up, ready […]
Grant Shapps is anti-hunting. Will he do the right thing and ban fox hunting on MoD land?
On 31 August, Grant Shapps was appointed as the new defence secretary. Protect the Wild is urging Shapps to use his power to ban hunting on Ministry of Defence (MoD) land. A number of major landowners, such as the National Trust, have already banned hunting from taking place on their land. They have acknowledged that […]
Protecting the Wild Equipment Fund #5: Shropshire Wildlife Monitors
The Protecting the Wild Equipment Fund was set up in summer 2023 to help put ‘eyes in the field‘, empowering people to protect British wildlife. We set the fund up because we know that many people who monitor are largely unfunded volunteers and often have no umbrella organisation to support them. That means they have […]
The Secret Monitor: Dishing the dirt on stag hunting
Damaging stories from inside hunting, shooting, and the badger cull have been circulating for years. Everything from breaking the law to assaults or harassment of monitors and the public and a police force seemingly happy to ‘look the other way’. But there is always someone watching, always someone listening. The Secret Monitor. In the first […]
Protect the Wild – how supporters EMPOWER us!
Before I get into this, can I just say now please don’t let the first two paragraphs below put you off! This short post is written to let you know how grateful we at Protect the Wild are to you (our supporters, readers, and contributors) for helping us feel less powerless and more hopeful…and as […]
