RSPB: Number of Hen Harriers killed or missing reaches new high
A new RSPB report – titled unambiguously Hen Harriers in the firing line – shows record numbers of Hen Harriers being illegally killed or going missing in suspicious circumstances over the past five years, and that the majority of the 102 incidents occurred on or near grouse moors. Hen Harriers are a rare, protected bird […]
Scotland: Green MSP calls for end to tax breaks for shooting estates
In a well-aimed TikTok video published just last week, Ross Greer, the Greens MSP for Western Scotland, has called for an end to tax breaks for wealthy shooting estate owners, saying it’s time “they sold their estates to local communities who could use them for the good of people and the planet.” The video points […]
20 years on: The true face of hunting with hounds in 2025
Protect the Wild’s report for the 2024/25 hunting season is its most comprehensive yet, gathering and analysing even more detailed data than previous years. It also coincides with the 20th anniversary of the enforcement of the Hunting Act. What the former shows is that the latter is still failing to prevent the hunting industry from […]
The Star: Duke of Rutland urged to sell ‘trashed’ grouse moor ‘to people of Sheffield’
“Conservation campaigners are set to bid for a “trashed” grouse moor near Sheffield to “restore it to its former glory.” So starts an article in Sheffield’s The Star, a local paper which Wikipedia says has a very respectable total average issue readership of 105,498. Titled “Sheffield moors: Duke of Rutland urged to sell ‘trashed’ grouse […]
Animal Aid report: Killing Our Countryside
“I don’t believe that you can profess to love nature, the environment or our wildlife and support the shooting of huge numbers of non-native pheasants & partridges, known to some as ‘Gamebirds’.” That’s Chris Packham’s opening paragraph for a Foreword to Animal Aid’s latest report into the shooting industry. Titled Killing Our Countryside, it looks […]
Moscar Moor: a blight on the Peak District
Almost two years ago Protect the Wild joined a group of activists for a walk on Moscar Moor, a knackered grouse moor within a few miles (as the smoke drifts) of Sheffield (see Reclaim Our Moors Walk 2023). In early June, with another group of activists and united under the growing ‘Reclaim Our Moors’ banner, […]
Born to Die: alleged leaked accounts reveal fate of unwanted foxhound puppies
Weymouth Animal Rights has recently revealed deeply disturbing information about the fate of newborn foxhound puppies bred by hunts—details so brutal that it’s no surprise they remain hidden from public view. While much attention focuses on the tragic shooting of adult hounds, what remains largely unknown and unspoken is the reported mass killing of day-old […]
Hunted in plain sight: Footage isn’t enough under a broken law
The Hunt, the Footage, and the Failure of the Law On 28 December 2024, in Sutton Green near Wrexham, the Wynnstay Hunt was being observed by the dedicated Cheshire Hunt Monitors when a chillingly familiar scene unfolded. Whilst in a woodland, the hounds suddenly broke into “cry” — that unmistakable, frenzied howling triggered when they […]
Killing Pheasants: King Charles ‘livid’ as royal tradition faces axe
To quote a breathless report in ‘Hello!’, the lightweight glossy for the many people who like to peek from the sidelines at the wealthy, “King Charles is reportedly ‘devastated’ following news that a key royal family tradition could soon be scrapped.” What might that ‘key’ tradition be? Distributing alms? Thanking those around him for ensuring […]
The Crown Prosecution Service and the Holderness Hunt: Dropped Charges, unanswered questions
A Fox Killed. A Hunt Unchallenged. A Law That Failed. On New Year’s Eve, 2019, a group of local volunteers came together with one purpose: to monitor the Holderness Hunt in the East Riding Of Yorkshire. What they witnessed that day was devastating — a brutal killing that exposed the sham of “trail hunting” and […]
Hunt Havoc on trial: the fight for foxhound welfare and hunt accountability
Could this be the Beginning of the End for out-of-control Hunts? Cheshire Hunt case could set national precedent. In March, Chester Magistrates’ Court confirmed that three senior members of the Cheshire Hunt will stand trial this November, accused of allowing their hounds to run dangerously out of control during a hunting meet in January 2024. […]
Bloodbusiness.info – 1000+ listings!
Despite both the ‘hunting season’ and the ‘blasting birds out of the air season’ being over for the first half of 2025, we have continued to keep building our bloodbusiness.info database. Designed to give us all information about where and which public-facing businesses are connected to hunting with dogs and/or shooting birds or mammals, bloodbusiness […]
Another Hen Harrier vanishes on grouse moor in Yorkshire Dales National Park
There has barely been time to digest the appalling news of the ‘disappearance’ of two breeding male Hen Harriers from Cumbria’s RSPB’s Geltsdale Reserve, but there’s already news of another suspicious disappearance of a Hen Harrier to get our heads around. This time it’s a young female called ‘Sita’. She was satellite-tagged in Lancashire’s Forest […]
Two Hen Harriers ‘missing’ from RSPB’s Geltsdale Reserve
The RSPB has reported this week that two male Hen Harriers have suddenly ‘disappeared’ from their nest sites at Geltsdale in Northern England. The birds vanished within a few days of each other. Another Geltsdale male Hen Harrier was found shot dead on neighbouring land in spring 2023. A Red-listed species in the UK due […]
Hen Harrier Action Launches Wildlife Crime Detection Dog Fundraising Appeal
n 2024, Protect the Wild was proud to co-sponsor an ‘Action for Wildlife Day’ organised by the charity Hen Harrier Action (HHA). HHA celebrates and protects the wildlife of our uplands, including (as its name suggests) the UK’s most persecuted bird of prey, the Hen Harrier. Why the most persecuted? That would be because of […]
Enough is Enough: The Hunting Act is Failing—It’s Time to Demand Real Change
Trail hunting is a lie. The Hunting Act is failing. It’s time to hold hunts—and the government—to account. Tell your MP enough is enough. Protect the Wild has received powerful footage that confirms what we’ve all known for far too long: the Hunting Act 2004 is not fit for purpose. The lie of “trail hunting” […]
We Did It — 100,000 Voices for Badgers!
Thanks to you, our government petition to end the badger cull has now surpassed 100,000 signatures — the threshold needed to trigger a debate in Parliament. This is a massive moment in our fight to protect one of Britain’s most iconic wild animals. And it’s only happened because you signed, shared, and stood up for […]
Is the Badger Cull Working? Ask AI!
Over the last year Protect the Wild has been proud to work with Tom Langton, a highly-respected ecologist who has been a leading figure in the fight against the government’s slaughter of over a quarter of a million badgers to protect the dairy industry. Tom is a major contributor to the Badger Crowd website and […]
Leaked messages reveal foxhound deaths and public health risk in hunt kennels
Photographs and leaked messages obtained by Protect the Wild and the Hunt Saboteurs Association reveal the sickening, dangerous conditions foxhounds are subjected to inside UK hunt kennels. In a private Facebook group for pro-hunt vets, a conversation unfolded about a catastrophic outbreak at the Grove and Rufford Hunt — a hunt regularly sabbed by Sheffield […]
RSPB: ‘Relief’ brood meddling ends, but still pushing licencing
The RSPB – the nation’s largest and most influential bird charity of course – has released a statement on the news that Natural England has decided not to approve a new licence for ‘brood meddling’, a conservation sham sanctioned by Defra (the government department which sanctioned the iniquities of the equally sham ‘badger cull’). Brood […]
We’ve launched a new tool to end hunting for good
Hunts continue to terrorise wildlife and pets, endanger people, and trample the law with impunity. Despite the Hunting Act 2004 being in place for over 20 years, it is not fit for purpose when it comes to protecting British wildlife, companion animals, or local communities. It is a law riddled with loopholes that hunts exploit […]
Protect the Wild Launches HuntHavoc.info: Exposing Hunt Carnage
Protect the Wild has launched a powerful new website: HuntHavoc.info — created for one clear purpose: to expose the law-breaking, the chaos, and the carnage hunts are causing across Britain — and to help the public take action. For too long, the brutal reality of hunting has been hidden behind a mask of tradition and […]
Four more satellite-tagged Hen Harriers have vanished since January
As we reported earlier this month, on 14 April 2025 Natural England (NE) quietly released a blog titled “Conclusion of Hen Harrier Brood Management Trial”. In it John Holmes, NE’s Director, Strategy – Landscape, Peat and Species, wrote that “The experimental trial of hen harrier ‘brood management’ has ended…illegal killing of hen harriers has continued, […]
Lyme Disease bacteria “2.5 times more common in ticks in pheasant-release areas”.
The bird shooting industry is responsible for a huge amount of harm. For example it sells vast numbers of birds to be shot dead, traps and kills native predators like foxes and stoats on a huge scale to ‘protect’ its birds, and it is almost entirely responsible for the scourge of raptor persecution. Now various […]
Open consultation: Heather and grass burning in England
In 1984 a Royal Commission on environmental pollution recommended a ban on straw burning to come into force within five years. In June 1993 a new law, the Crop Residues (Burning) Regulations 1993, took effect in England and Wales. The law prohibited the burning of various crop residues – straw or stubble remaining on the […]
Lincolnshire farmer/gamekeeper sentenced for crimes relating to raptor persecution
Following a trial at Lincolnshire Magistrates Court earlier this month, farmer/gamekeeper John Bryant, 40, of West Ashby, Horncastle was found guilty of multiple offences following a police investigation into the illegal killing of a Red Kite and two Common Buzzards over a five year period. A statement released by Lincolnshire Police said that Bryant “used […]
Hen Harier Brood Meddling: “Illegal killing of Hen Harriers has continued.”
On the 14th March 2025 a blog on the Natural England (NE) website announced the ‘Conclusion of the Hen Harrier Brood Management Trial’. With a curious mix of exaggeration and understatement, John Holmes, NE’s Director, Strategy – Landscape, Peat and Species, wrote that “The experimental trial of hen harrier ‘brood management’ has ended, concluding that […]
*GRAPHIC* Pregnant vixen torn apart by Holderness Hunt hounds
On the 4th of March 2025, a devastating incident occurred in East Yorkshire, as the Holderness Hunt hounds were witnessed tearing apart a pregnant vixen. The harrowing scene took place between Lessit and Kelk, in a field east of Gembling, within the East Riding of Yorkshire. Hull Wildlife Protectors (HWP), who were monitoring the second-to-last […]
Foxhounds continue to be put in danger by hunts
In the last week, several incidents have highlighted the persistent risks foxhounds face during hunting with them repeatedly placed in dangerous situations. Despite claiming to care deeply for their hounds, hunts often demonstrate little regard for their safety. On February 8th, North London Hunt Saboteurs (Sabs) filmed a troubling scene involving the Thurlow huntsman. The […]
Tarras Valley, Hen Harriers, and the lies of the shooting industry
Last week yet another young Hen Harrier disappeared ‘in suspicious circumstances’ (the phrase used in official announcements which essentially means ‘we know what happened, but we can’t prove it’). ‘Red’ hatched in a nest on the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in 2024 and ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in County Durham in January 2025. Charlie […]
The next post office scandal? How flawed science justifies the slaughter of a “protected” species
Imagine this: for decades, an entire government policy causing mass death is founded on evidence that many scientists now say is deeply flawed. Like the infamous Post Office scandal, where innocent workers were blamed for crimes they didn’t commit, the badger cull hinges on a narrative that points the finger at badgers for spreading bovine […]
South Thames Hunt Sabs: sabbing the notorious Kent Hunt
Towards the end of September this year we were approached by a ‘new’ sab group: South Thames Hunt Sabs. Operating in the South of England and beyond, the group is ‘newly-formed’ but is (they told us) made up of a “team of dedicated individuals who collectively share a mixed skillset and an abundance of experience […]
Grouse Moor Licencing: the legal mess we always thought it would be
To the surprise of no one, NatureScot (the executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for the country’s natural heritage) has caved in to the demands of the shooting industry – trashing the overhyped grouse moor licencing system just months after its implementation. Licencing was brought in (allegedly) to stop the raptor persecution […]
Undercover footage of raptor persecution ‘a game changer’
On 22 October Channel 4’s Alex Thomson introduced extraordinary video footage captured by the RSPB Investigations Team of three gamekeepers on a grouse moor in North Yorkshire, discussing (and then off-camera killing), a Hen Harrier. While that may not sound particularly ‘game changing’, what makes this footage especially important is that the audio quality is […]
Equipment Fund: Keeping up the pressure on Cheshire’s hunts
Twenty years after the passing of the Hunting Act there are still several hundred hunts going out with packs of hounds (and more often than not with a hardcore of badger baiters and dog fighters that make up hunt ‘terriermen’). Having tried to bludgeon the public and the authorities into submission and force repeal of […]
Serious outbreak of Avian Flu found in pheasants
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has reported an outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI H5N5) in 20 pheasants released onto a Worcestershire shoot. The outbreak was recorded on APHA’s weekly updated database for week 39 – in other words between 23-29 September – in Wychavon. No precise location details are provided and […]
Double the airtime and added personal protection! Equipment Fund: Locals against the BSV
A few weeks ago we received a request from a member of Locals Against the BSV (the notorious Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt) for equipment which opened with “I don’t know if I would qualify as I’m not part of a sab group, but have recently started going out with Dorset Against Blood Sports and […]
As the pheasant shooting season begins we reflect on how normalised shooting has become
Without any of the ludicrous fanfare surrounding the ‘Inglorious 12th’ but with 100 times the number of birds involved, today sees the opening shots fired in ‘the pheasant shooting season’. In England, Scotland, and Wales the ‘season’ ends four months later on 01 February, a month earlier in Northern Ireland. In that time millions of […]
Bloodbusiness now with MAPPING
Back in July, Protect the Wild launched a new website, bloodbusiness.info “a community-driven, fully searchable website that helps pro-wildlife people like ourselves choose where we spend our money based on our personal preferences.” What we’ve been creating since then is essentially a list of businesses that support in some way the ‘bloodbusiness’ industries of hunting […]
‘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 […]
Guest blog: Trail Liars, Recklessness and Observation and Flushing for Fun.
A few days ago, appalling footage of the Devon & Somerset Staghounds killing a stag emerged. The hunt had spent four hours on their ‘sport’ before the stag, exhausted and desperate, waded into a river to escape. Encircled and trapped, too weak to run any further, he was finally shot and his suffering over. (See […]
Nothing glorious about the ‘Inglorious 12th’
The 12th of August (the ‘Inglorious 12th’) marks the start of a key ‘season’ for the shooting industry. Over the next 121 days that industry will aim to sell hundreds of thousands of Red Grouse to shooters to kill.
We’ve launched bloodbusiness.info
On Saturday 27 July we launched a new website bloodbusiness.info – but what is it and what is it designed to do? In a nutshell, bloodbusiness.info is a secure list (or database) of businesses that in one way or another support the ‘blood businesses’ of hunting with dogs and the shooting of birds and mammals […]
See you at Action for Wildlife Day!
Protect the Wild is heading to the Peak District! On August 10th – just two days before the Inglorious 12th and the start of the grouse-killing season – both Rob and Charlie will be at Carsington Water in Derbyshire for an Action for Wildlife Day. Organised by Hen Harrier Action, the event is being held […]
GUILTY: Ashley Game Farm convicted of multiple pesticide offences
The discovery of a poisoned Buzzard next to a poisoned bait by a member of the public led to the search of a Pheasant and Red-legged Partridge breeding farm in Chulmleigh, Devon conducted by Devon and Cornwall Police in March 2021. A number of pesticide offences were discovered including the presence of Carbofuran, the same […]
The Secret Monitor: Linhope Estate, Northumberland
Damaging stories from inside hunting and shooting have been circulating for years. Both industries present a public face that aims to convince politicians and the public alike that everything they do is lawful or ‘sustainable’. The truth is very different, and much of what takes place is out sight. Supporters, clients and even the police […]
Taking on the bird shooting industry: our plans
At Protect the Wild we say we want three things: to end hunting, end bird shooting, and end the badger cull. Over the last year we have pretty much focussed on hunting with dogs: mainly fox hunting, but in a series of animations and Secret Monitor posts also stag and hind hunting, and hare coursing […]
Equipment Fund #22: Suffolk Action for Wildlife
Suffolk Action For Wildlife (SAF) have been monitoring and exposing illegal hunting across Suffolk since 2021. Focussing their work on the Essex and Suffolk Hunt, they have always generously shared their news and images with us here at Protect the Wild (see for example ‘CONVICTED! Terrierman guilty after terrorising monitors on quad bike’ and ‘Essex […]
GRAPHIC IMAGES: Stink Pits – as disgusting as they sound
Anyone who comes across one of the shooting industry’s ‘hidden secrets’ will know immediately how stink pits got their name. Also known as middens, stink pits are ‘built’ by gamekeepers on shooting estates. They are pits or piles of dumped rotting mammal and bird carcasses which literally ‘stink’ and are used as bait to lure […]
Hackney resident woken to sound of gunshots as foxes shot in vicarage
On 23 June, Hackney resident Claire was suddenly woken by the sound of gunshots. Highly alarmed she realised that the shots were coming from the vicarage her garden backed on. Inside the vicarage was a young family. What on earth was happening…? Claire, who told Protect the Wild she has worked in war zones in […]
#RestoreNatureNow march – 60000 of us heading in the same direction
On Saturday 22 June, 60,000 activists walked through London. All ages, all backgrounds, an almost unimaginably broad range of interests and concerns. Even a few years ago we might have seemed disparate, unconnected with each other, but for a glorious, precious few hours we united behind two simple messages: 1) our world is dying, we […]
ENGLAND: Glue Trap ban in force soon!
Glue traps, sometimes referred to as sticky boards or glue boards, are used to trap mice or rats. Non-drying adhesive is placed on a board and as animals walk across them they are trapped and unable to escape, their fur or limbs becoming increasingly stuck to the glue as they try to wriggle free. Thankfully countries […]
