Beagle packs amalgamate, as hunts struggle across the UK
There’s some rare good news for British wildlife. Two more hunts have been forced to amalgamate, according to the Hunt Saboteurs Association. That makes five mergers already this year. Combined with the closure of Scotland’s Dumfriesshire & Stewarty Hunt that means there will be at least six less hunts overall next season. Sabs have […]
Fox hunting news roundup: 16 May 2025
This mid-May fox hunting news roundup begins with a chilling question: is the Portman Hunt killing tens of healthy hounds every year? We have been shown documents originating from the Portman which show that the Hunt routinely replaces 22% of its hunt pack. So what happens to the discarded dogs? In other news, Dorset Police […]
South Shropshire terrierman fined for blocking a badger sett
David Conde, a terrierman for the South Shropshire Hunt (SSH), has been ordered to pay an £845 fine by Telford Magistrates Court, after admitting to unlawfully interfering with a badger sett. Conde was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £338 and costs of £85 Badgers have long faced threats and persecution in the […]
Fashion brand founder Johnnie Boden is a life patron of the Portman Hunt
Protect the Wild has been sent documents showing that businessman Johnnie Boden is a life patron of Dorset’s Portman Hunt. Two members of the Portman were convicted of ‘illegally hunting a fox with dogs’ in September 2024. The documents, produced by the Hunt, were provided to Two Counties Hunt Saboteurs – Somerset and Dorset (2CHS) […]
Nails in hunting’s coffin: 2024’s guilty convictions
2024 saw numerous hunters in the dock, either for hunting-related offences, or for the violence they inflicted on hunt saboteurs and monitors. Protect the Wild takes a look at the year’s convictions, and what this might mean for the future of hunting with dogs. Despite there being a larger number of hunters or their supporters […]
GOOD NEWS: Another pub disassociates itself from a hunt
The Fox Inn in Stourton has cancelled the Albrighton and Woodland Hunt’s end-of-season supper, which was due to take place on 21 March. It is the latest of a number of pubs that have disassociated themselves from fox hunting. After news of the pub hosting the event circulated on social media, a number of people […]
Protecting the Wild Equipment Fund #17: Cotswold Hunt Sabs
As we wrote recently we reached a major milestone earlier this month: 500 paid subscribers here on Substack. Just a few weeks later that post is already very out of date! That figure is now actually nearing 600, which is fantastic news for wildlife up and down the UK because Protect the Wild takes absolutely […]
Hunter on quad bike mows down man, breaking his leg
Shocking footage shows the moment a man was mowed down by a South Shropshire Hunt (SSH) terrierman on a quad bike. The incident took place on the Real Milk Company’s private land on 25 November. The company tweeted a video of the incident, and said: “First you goad them…..then you evidence them. SSH trespassing yet […]
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 […]
Cattistock Hunt escapes prosecution despite railway line fox chase
On 10 July, North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs reported that the Cattistock Hunt will not be prosecuted for trespassing onto railway tracks. This shows police bias in action: hunts continually get away with trespassing on railways, while members of the public doing the same face prosecution. The incident in question took place on 4 February 2023, […]
Lewis Hamilton-fronting car company sponsoring fundraisers for hunts
Car manufacturer INEOS Automotive is sponsoring point-to-point horse races to show its support for the “countryside community”. The catch? They are organised by and raise money for criminal hunting. INEOS Automotive started its partnership with the Point-to-Point Authority in November 2021. The promotional material at the time said the car manufacturer was sponsoring the Mixed […]
One ‘kind’ message led a pub to take a stand against hunting
A Powys pub has chosen not to support hunting. The pub said the decision came after it had received a “kind and non-abusive” message. And it’s the latest in a string of decisions that increasingly isolate the hunting industry. The Raven Inn based in Welshpool, Powys, said on 19 December that it “will not be […]
Hunt master fined after hunting fox on National Trust land
Hunt master fined £600 after failing to call dogs away while illegally fox hunting on National Trust land South Shropshire Hunt master Daniel Cherriman, aged 37, was filmed in November 2021 trespassing and illegally fox hunting on National Trust land in the Long Mynd area of Church Stretton when the hounds he was in charge […]
Are Community Protection Warnings worth the paper they’re written on?
West Mercia Police has issued four hunts with Community Protection Warnings (CPWs). Protect the Wild takes a look at what this means, and whether it will protect wildlife where the Hunting Act has failed. On 9 December, Action Against Foxhunting (AAF) announced that the North Shropshire Hunt, South Shropshire Hunt, Wynnstay Hunt and the United […]
United Pack steal monitor’s drone
On 24th February 2024, volunteers with Shropshire Wildlife Monitors were monitoring the Bishops Castle-based United Pack (UP), who were holding their last meet of the ‘season’ at Newton Farm. Amongst the volunteers was a drone operator. The day ended with the UP stealing the drone and driving away with it. The United Pack may not […]
Stag killers no longer welcome in this Somerset pub
Pub company Greene King has stated that the Anchor Inn in Exebridge will no longer host the Quantock Staghounds. This stand against hunting is a blow to the murderous industry. Huntpubs, a campaign that exposes the pubs and venues supporting illegal hunting, published an email on X (formerly Twitter). It had previously asked the public […]
Avian Flu forces lockdown of largest pheasant rearing farm in UK
Avian Flu protection zones have been imposed around a massive pheasant and partridge breeding farm in north Powys. The family-owned Bettws Hall Game Farm, near Bettws Cedewain, which describes itself as ‘a market leader in the production of pheasant and partridge chicks and poults in the UK‘, says it raises more than 1.7m pheasant and […]
Polecat facts
Facts about the European Polecat Scientific name: Mustela putorius At a glance A member of the mustelid family which includes Pine Marten, Weasel, Stoat, Badger, and Otter. Heavily persecuted, by 1915 the polecat had become extinct across much of Britain. Recovering population now increasingly meeting and interbreeding with closely-related feral Ferrets. A member of the […]
Cat facts
Facts about European Polecats Scientific name: Mustela putorius A member of the large mustelid family (which includes the Pine Marten, Weasels and Stoats, the Badger, and Otter) the European Polecat is one of the least-known UK mammals. A solitary animal, the polecat occupies a variety of habitats, from farmland to woodlands to coastal sand dunes, […]
Who we’ve supported
Who we’ve Supported Not all heroes wear capes! There are extraordinary people doing extraordinary things every day, often suffering insult and injury doing their utmost to protect foxes, birds, badgers and other wildlife. Brave individuals working tirelessly in the field to save and protect animals. We regularly offer funding to those who need support and […]
