What is the shooting industry?
What is the shooting industry? ‘Industry’. noun – a group of manufacturers or businesses that produce a particular kind of goods or services. The shooting industry is the blanket term we use to describe everything from shooting estates (where most commercial shooting takes place), gamekeepers (who are responsible for the birds that estates rear to […]
Why Protect the Wild doesn’t support licencing of the shooting industry.
Staggering levels of raptor persecution (the illegal persecution of birds of prey) have been in the news again following both the release of the RSPB’s Birdcrime report for 2022 and the Scottish Parliament voting on November 30th to support the general principles of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill. The Bill includes measures to introduce […]
Scotland: Shooting industry fails to bully politicians over snares
It’s welcome news that the Scottish government has announced that it will push ahead with a change in the law that would fully ban snares. As we previously reported, the shooting industry had been lobbying hard so that it could continue using the torture devices. Gamekeepers and landowners had been trying to influence legislation in […]
Shooting industry fails to criminalise Chris Packham
Hampshire Police has said that it won’t press charges against Chris Packham. The wildlife presenter’s supposed crime? Sniffing a goshawk chick on the BBC’s The One Show. Packham appeared on the programme back in August with three ringed chicks in the New Forest. He sniffed one to detect their “characteristic scent or perfume”. An individual […]
The grouse shooting industry’s ‘illusion of truth’
“141 hen harrier chicks fledge as encouraging population growth recorded” (Natural England). “Record high for Hen harrier population in England” (Moorland Association). “Another record year for hen harriers as 141 chicks fledge in England” (BASC). “Population of Hen Harrier in England experiences boom” (Hexham Courant). “Hen harrier chick numbers grow for seventh year in a […]
OPINION: The grouse shooting industry must be shut down
Over the last two days we’ve laid out some of the less than ‘glorious’ facts about the grouse shooting industry. In our first post, ‘There’s nothing ‘glorious’ about killing grouse‘, we outlined how the 12th of August (the ‘Inglorious 12th’) marks the start of a key ‘season’ for the shooting industry, and that over the […]
Defra cosies up to grouse shooting industry
Defra (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs), the government department “responsible for improving and protecting the environment”, has announced the appointment of a grouse moor owner to what it describes as a ‘key role’. Heather Hancock (pictured above), a former Food Standards Agency chair and former Chief Executive of the Yorkshire Dales National Park […]
Heads-up shooting industry: Avian Flu is still killing wild birds
Just last week we posted an article (‘World’s tiniest violin plays for shooting industry‘) about a puff piece for the shooting industry published by the Daily Telegraph. In our post we pointed out that shooting lobbyists were arguing that the massive releases of non-native birds to be shot should be allowed to go ahead partly […]
World’s tiniest violin plays for shooting industry
Last week Yahoo News reposted a Daily Telegraph puff piece for the shooting industry which ran with the headline, “Gamekeepers face ruin after last-minute change to licences.” Lamenting a normally supine government for actually (finally) recognising the terrible threat of Avian Flu to wild bird populations and that protected areas ought to be – you […]
Avian Flu: RSPB calls for ban on bird releases by shooting industry
“To help limit the catastrophic spread of Avian Influenza, the RSPB is calling for an immediate moratorium on the release of captive-bred gamebirds and Mallards for shooting in the UK this year. The call is for the UK and devolved governments and the shooting industry to take a precautionary approach to limit the spread of […]
Thanks to the shooting industry, your dog’s food might cause lead posioning
A new study into lead shot has confirmed what we already know – it’s creating toxicity in foods that reach supermarket shelves. But this study shows that it has affected dog food too. On 3 May, environmental research journal Ambio published a study into the levels of lead found in commercial dog food. Headed up […]
Wales is holding a public consultation on licensing parts of the shooting industry
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is asking the public for its thoughts on new regulation for releasing pheasants, partridges and other ‘non-native’ birds killed by the shooting industry. At present, there are regulations around the release of birds inside Wales’ sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs). However, beyond those areas, there is almost no regulatory oversight. […]
I want you to help us bring down the bird shooting industry
If you find yourself reading this, it’s likely you’re anti fox hunting. Maybe you’ve watched our ‘Trail of Lies’ animation or came across one of our undercover investigations. Or perhaps you signed one of our online petitions or donated to a crowd funder. However, what’s less likely is your position on bird shooting and whether […]
“The Shooting Industry: it’s not just hunts that kill foxes”
A fox trots through a quiet wood. Suddenly a gun blast tears the air. Pheasant alarm calls ring out. The fox runs as birds are shot out of the sky… Those are the opening few seconds of a new 90 second animation we’re about to launch. It’s produced for Protect the Wild by Ben Sinclair […]
Why must the shooting industry have a ‘predator control exit strategy’?
Why must the shooting industry have a ‘predator control exit strategy’? The definition of an ‘exit strategy’ is quite simple. It’s a pre-planned means of leaving a current situation, either after a predetermined objective has been achieved or as a strategy to mitigate failure. It’s often said that “an organisation or individual without an exit […]
Does the shooting industry spread disease?
Does the shooting industry spread disease? Wild animals get get sick, of course, but intensively reared, stressed animals are especially susceptible to disease (as an aside it’s estimated that 73% of all the antibiotics used globally are given to farmed animals, leading to serious concerns of widespread antibiotic resistance). Shooting depends on rearing as many […]
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 […]
The Killing Continues: Shooting industry driving raptor persecution
The latest RSPB Birdcrime Report confirms that the shooting industry continues to drive the illegal persecution of birds of prey, listing 108 confirmed incidents across Britain in 2021. The tally of dead birds includes 50 Common Buzzards, 16 Red Kites, seven Peregrines and three Goshawks. Birdcrime is the UK’s only annual and comprehensive report of […]
Snares and the Shooting Industry
Snares and the Shooting Industry Think it’s just hunts that kill foxes? Meet the shooting industry… The estimated number of fox snares put out in England is between 62,823 and 188,283 depending on the month. Approximately 1.7 million animals are caught in snares across the UK every year. Most of these animals are killed by […]
Why do you call bird shooting an industry?
Why do we call bird shooting an ‘industry’? Why does Protect the Wild call the ‘bird shooting industry’ (a blanket term for shooting estates, shooting syndicates, shooting lobbyists, gun and ammunition manufacturers and suppliers etc) an ‘industry’ exactly? Because that’s exactly what it is – an industry. And it’s huge. We all need to move […]
What is ‘pheasant shooting’?
What is ‘pheasant shooting’? Put simply, pheasant shooting is the annual slaughter of millions of birds, which are shot as live targets between October and the end of January (the so-called ‘open season’ for pheasant shooting). But just as with ‘grouse shooting’ this isn’t something that can or should be put simply. It is a […]
Industrial scale of pheasant shooting revealed
The industrial scale of rearing pheasants for the shooting industry has been uncovered by Who Owns England’s Guy Shrubsole in a series of FOI requests on the poultry registry made to APHA (the Animal and Plant Health Agency). Every year the shooting industry releases around 40 million Common Pheasants and 10 million Red-legged Partridges for […]
What is grouse shooting?
What is grouse shooting? Put simply, grouse shooting is the annual slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Red Grouse, which are shot as live targets between the now infamous 12th of August (the ‘Ingorious 12th’) and December 10th (the period which makes up the so-called ‘open season’ for shooting Red Grouse). But just as with […]
Bird shooting and the Law
Bird shooting and the Law Under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 (the primary legislation which protects animals, plants and habitats in the UK) all wild birds are protected. In the UK no-one can simply go out armed and shoot whatever birds they want to. However, certain species of game birds (a term Protect the […]
New investigation reveals widespread use of rat poison to target raptors on Northumberland shooting estate
Hunt Investigation Team (HIT) has published an investigation into malicious practices by a Northumberland shooting estate. It showed that Allendale Estates has used a “notorious” rat poison to kill not just rats but raptors and other wildlife too. As a result, the bodies of dead animals were left “strewn” next to areas of public access […]
The vile Pheasant shooting ‘season’ has started
With barely a press release or salivating media article, the pheasant shooting ‘season’ has started again in the UK. Over the next few months (until 1st of February) the countryside will echo with unwanted and upsetting reminders that birds are dying in vast numbers. It’s opened in marked contrast to the flurry of vapid puff […]
Scottish Water looks set to ban grouse shooting on their land
The gory blood sport of grouse shooting is well underway in the UK. The rich are whipping out their rifles in delight, eager to murder defenceless birds. But it’s one blow after another for grouse shooters in Scotland, as Scottish Water has stated that it will issue no new leases on its estate. The company […]
Scottish Greens describe grouse shooting as ‘festival of violence’
The barbaric grouse shooting season began on 12 August, the ‘Inglorious 12th’. The Scottish Green Party has sent a clear message to gamekeepers and wealthy shooters that the blood sport is not welcome in Scotland. The Scottish Greens’ rural affairs minister, Ariane Burgess MSP, didn’t mince her words when she said: “There is nothing glorious […]
‘Moor’ bad news for grouse shooting in run up to Inglorious 12th
As we reported on July 22nd, United Utilities (UU), the largest corporate landowner in England, announced its decision to no longer renew grouse shooting leases on its moorland. The last of those leases will end in 2027, after which time UU (unless they bow to pressure from the shooting industry) will be out of the […]
BREAKING: United Utilities to end grouse shooting
As reported by Alex Thomson of Channel 4, “United Utilities, the largest corporate landowner in England, is pulling grouse shooting on its moorland by way of not renewing its leases when they come to an end. Its grouse shooting leases cover many high profile moorland landscapes, including the Forest of Bowland AONB, the Goyt Valley, […]
RSPB: The Economics of Driven Grouse Shooting Report
The RSPB (the “UK’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home and secure a healthy environment for wildlife’) recently published a report called ‘Driven Grouse Shooting – Assessing the economic and social impacts of future options for grouse moor management‘ Or did they? Curiously, this detailed and over 100-pages long report […]
Kept Animals Bill was ditched to protect the hunting industry, Defra letter suggests
The government has dropped the Kept Animals Bill, which promised to alleviate some of the worst excesses of animal cruelty. And it dropped the bill to protect its mates in the hunting industry. When the government dropped the Kept Animals Bill, it provided a cryptic reason for doing so. Mark Spencer, Defra minister, claimed on […]
New footage shows the ‘untold suffering’ of legal traps on a notorious grouse shooting estate
Moorland Monitors has captured footage of a crow caught up and unnaturally twisted in a ‘clam trap’ on open access land in the Peak District. And it shows what one person can do with just a phone. Moorland Monitors shared phone-filmed footage showing two crows in two separate cages set next to each other. It […]
Scotland: Gamekeeper guilty of shooting Sparrowhawk on grouse moor
On 31 March 2023 Rory Parker (24), pleaded guilty to shooting a Sparrowhawk whilst employed as a gamekeeper on the notorious Moy Estate, Inverness – becoming the 56th gamekeeper to be convicted of raptor persecution offences in Scotland since 1990. As their name suggests, Sparrowhawks are one of the UK’s smallest birds of prey and […]
Join protests against a shooting estate where snares have trapped dogs
National Anti-Snaring Campaign (NASC) is launching a series of protests to highlight the ubiquity of snaring on a West Sussex shooting estate. NASC announced that it is planning to hold a series of protests at Arundel Castle, West Sussex, beginning on 1 April. The group will hold further protests on 7, 15, 22 and 28 […]
National Trust bans grouse shooting from a Peak District estate
The National Trust has announced it’s banning grouse shooting from 1,600 acres of its land in the Peak District. And it comes after the charity voiced concerns over the shooting industry’s “management techniques”. On 3 March, Sheffield paper The Star reported that the National Trust had chosen not to renew its relationship with the shooting […]
Woodcock petition debate: through the looking glass with the shooting lobby
On the 27th of February, Parliament debated petition 619615 ‘Limit the shooting season of Woodcock‘, which was launched by Wild Justice and signed by 107, 916 members of the public. The petition asked that the (so-called) shooting season for Woodcock, a species in serious decline here, should be moved back from 01 October (it starts […]
New review shows pheasants are still riddled with lead despite industry promises
A new study reveals that the shooting industry has done almost nothing to reduce lead in shotgun pellets. The finding comes half-way through an industry pledge to voluntarily reduce lead by 2025. The Conservation Evidence Journal published a review on 27 February led by Rhys Green of the Environmental Research Institute and Cambridge University. The […]
Can I stop shooting taking place near me?
Can I stop shooting taking place near me? If you’re disturbed by (or simply don’t like) shooting talking place near where you live, what can you do about it? It’s far more difficult than it should be to stop shooting taking place near you, because shooting is currently legal and legislation is weighted very heavily […]
Pheasant shooting ‘season’ ends today
The vast majority of birds that breed in or regularly visit the UK are rightly protected by law and can not be harmed or killed at any time of the year. For those unfortunate species that were long ago declared as ‘game’ or ‘quarry’ though (and there are no biological reasons for the choices that […]
DARTMOOR: camping ban and pheasant shooting
On Saturday 21 January, Protect the Wild joined more than 3,000 people marching in protest on Dartmoor after a pheasant-shooting millionaire took action to prevent wild camping. Hedge fund manager Alexander Darwall, who owns the 4,000-acre Blachford Estate on Dartmoor, brought the case against Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA). The high court ruled in his […]
Raptor persecution: if we think ‘shooting’ first who can blame us?
The recent discovery of the bodies of five dead young Goshawks dumped in a wood in Suffolk drew an instant response that shooting estates and their gamekeeper employees were likely to be involved. That feeling was compounded by x-rays that showed shotgun pellets in all five birds. Shooting lobbyists like BASC (the British Association of […]
Is it true that without shooting there’d be no pheasants here?
Is it true that without shooting there’d be no pheasants here? The short answer is, that’s probably true, yes. Pheasants are absolutely beautiful birds, so does that mean we should be grateful to shooting for ensuring there are pheasants for us to look at? Not at all. And that’s because we really ought to look […]
Where is shooting vulnerable
Where is shooting vulnerable? While many of us have come together to ‘protect the wild’ bird shooting is purely selfish and serves no common good. We will work to counter the ‘conservation’ greenwashing the industry employs. It uses birds as live targets. That shouldn’t be allowed. Non-animal shooting is now available, replicating the so-called ‘thrill’ […]
Ending Bird Shooting – let’s talk about foxes
How do you persuade an audience that is primarily interested in fighting foxhunting to become as concerned about the bird shooting industry? Oddly enough (and as a lifelong birder I’m writing this through slightly gritted teeth as it were), it’s probably not by talking about birds… Last year Keep the Ban, which was built […]
Is bird shooting ethical?
Is bird shooting ethical? Of course not. It is simply unethical and immoral to raise and sell huge numbers of birds as live targets for consumers (the clients of shooting estates and shooting syndicates) to maim or kill. It is unethical to kill protected birds of prey and a countless number of foxes to ‘protect’ […]
Why are there bird shooting ‘seasons’
Why are there bird shooting ‘seasons’? The vast majority of birds that breed in or regularly visit the UK are rightly protected by law and can not be harmed or killed at any time of the year. For those unfortunate species that were long ago declared as ‘game’ or ‘quarry’ though (and there are no […]
Why will you never be neutral on bird shooting?
Why won’t Protect the Wild ever be neutral on bird shooting? If we don’t speak out against the shooting industry, then no matter how much we might try to convince ourselves otherwise: we are supporting the killing of millions and millions of birds for ‘fun’, supporting the trapping and snaring of countless foxes and other […]
Is bird shooting a ‘sport’?
Is bird shooting a ‘sport’? Whether bird shooting is a ‘sport’ or not depends on how you define ‘sport’: a contest between equals, perhaps(in which case definitely not), or an activity that involves physical activity and skill (in which case ‘barely’). Looking at the origin of the word ‘sport’ doesn’t really help either: ‘sport’ comes […]
Birds and the fishing industry
Birds and the fishing industry Compared with the billions of fish that are killed every year, the impact on birds of the commercial and recreational fishing industries might not seem to be important. The reality though is that huge numbers of birds die as ‘bycatch’ caught on hooks or in nets or discarded fishing gear; […]
Birds and the agriculture industry
Birds and the Agriculture Industry Unlike the shooting industry, intensive farming doesn’t specifically target birds but the enormous land use changes that have taken place since the 1950s have caused many bird populations to crash. The UK has lost an estimated 19 million breeding pairs since widespread monitoring began in the late 1960s, and many […]
Shooting Estates to publish a register of all mammals they trap and snare
Shooting Estates must keep a public register of all mammals they trap and snare. Go straight to sign Every day tens of thousands of traps and snares are laid by gamekeepers on shooting estates. Countless foxes and other animals are being killed every day to protect shooting’s profits – yet there is no legal requirement […]
