Eye on the Wild #6 – Scotland’s ban on glue traps has finally come into force!
Welcome to the sixth edition of Eye on the Wild, our new weekly roundup designed to keep you up to date with the latest stories concerning British wildlife. If you have a story you think we should cover, email us at contact@protectthewild.org.uk Great news! Scotland’s ban on glue traps has finally come into force From […]
“I’d rather be in a cage on a pheasant farm than a chicken in a cage on a factory farm.”
We will be shifting the focus of our ‘Investigations’ articles from the adult birds in their horrible cages to looking at WHY these birds are farmed so intensively. The answer of course is for EGGS. The shooting industry needs eggs so the whole vile cycle can be repeated year after year…if they simply blasted to […]
From hedgehogs to buzzards, Britain’s wildlife is being quietly killed by rodenticide poisons
This is the second in a series of articles highlighting the need to ban rodenticides in the UK. Last week, we explored how UK councils are failing in their legal obligations to avoid causing unnecessary suffering. You can read the article here. In the coming weeks we will outline how poisons affect the water system […]
How we’re going to end bird shooting
We make difficult demands on the people who support us. We ask you to watch footage that is hard to watch, to read accounts that are hard to read, and to sit with the knowledge of what is happening to birds in this country every single day. We don’t do that lightly, but we owe […]
Pinned down and terrified – Beak Guard Fitting: The Procedure The Industry Doesn’t Want You To See
Imagine you’re a bird. You’re already living in a stressed state, trapped in a cage. Nowhere to go. Suddenly, humans surround you. You’re grabbed, hung upside down, and carried off. You’re pinned down, your head is yanked forward, and something is fitted to your beak – a highly sensitive structure that contains a complex network […]
Reach for the poison: why UK councils are getting rat control wrong
This is the first in a series of articles highlighting the unnecessary suffering caused by rodenticides. In the coming weeks we will outline how poisons affect the whole ecosystem – not just rats and mice – and we will examine how humane alternatives can be used to control rodent populations. We will be making the […]
‘Fix the Bird Not The Conditions’: the logic of the factory farm
Many of our readers have been in touch to ask about the strange plastic devices visible on the beaks of birds in some of the images we’ve used with previous articles. Many of us won’t have seen these things before, but what you are seeing are called beak guards and in the next few articles […]
The Derwent Hunt’s Continued Trespass: Why Are Forestry England and Police Failing to Act?
Despite the withdrawal of its hunting licence, repeated warnings, and ongoing police complaints, the Derwent Hunt continues to trespass across protected land in the North York Moors, exposing yet another failure by authorities to enforce wildlife crime. East Yorkshire Coast Sabs first exposed the Saltersgate Farmers Hunt and Derwent Hunt in 2022, following evidence of […]
“We’ll Try It, See What Happens”: Shocking ‘Treatment’ of Caged Pheasant
Heart of England is one of the UK’s largest breeders of birds for the gun. On its website, the company boasts that its birds are “produced without any shortcuts” and that it is “justly proud of the way it is produced.” What our undercover investigator filmed inside its sheds tells you exactly what “no shortcuts” […]
The Guga Hunt and the Weaponisation of Indigenous Identity
Guest post by Innogen Duncan. Proponents of the highly publicised Guga hunt have embedded claims about local food resilience and sovereignty within their defences of the hunt. Arguments from these angles are often attention grabbing for the general reader. This is in part due to the hotly discussed political nature and importance of the global […]
Undercover footage aired by ITV exposes cruelty at the heart of the bird shooting industry
Shooting. They call it “sport”. Dress it in the language of tradition, countryside stewardship, and conservation. Wrap it in tweed and tie it with the reassuring ribbon of British heritage But what Protect the Wild’s investigators found behind the gates of a British farm tells a very different story – one the shooting industry has […]
The vile industry that most of Britain has no idea about…
Two days ago we released an animation. In the time since, almost one million people have watched it. The film, narrated by Dr Amir Khan, exposes an industry most of the British public have never heard of. One where up to 50 million pheasants and partridges are bred every year from parents kept in intensive […]
Gannets: The hunters don’t want you to see this letter…
You’re about to read something the Guga hunters never expected the public to see. They thought it would stay private. They were wrong. The Guga hunt – the annual killing of Gannet seabird chicks on the Scottish island of Sula Sgeir – was written into law in the 1950s when wild birds were given legal […]
Geordie Hunt Sabs needed bodycams to stay safe in the field
Two years ago we launched The Protect the Wild Equipment Fund aiming to provide equipment to individuals or groups who are working as ‘eyes in the field’ to tackle wildlife crime and protect wildlife. Our first purchase was radios for the wonderful Cheshire Borderland Monitors, who wrote in a blog for us that the radios […]
The Guga Hunt campaign is growing and so is the pressure on NatureScot
Since our last update, the campaign to end the Guga hunt has moved into a new phase. The petitions have grown, parliamentary scrutiny continues, and pressure on NatureScot is rapidly mounting. We want to bring you fully up to speed on what’s happened, and what comes next. The Government Petition: 90,000 Voices and Rising The […]
South Norfolk Hunt Sabs video the Essex and Suffolk Hunt
Two years ago we launched “The Protect the Wild Equipment Fund’, aiming to provide equipment to individuals or groups who are working as ‘eyes in the field’ to tackle wildlife crime and protect wildlife. Our first purchase was radios for the excellent Cheshire Borderland Monitors, who wrote in a blog for us that the radios […]
Eyes on the Skies: raising awareness of raptor persecution in the Yorkshire Dales National Park
A Yorkshire Dales charity is launching a new campaign to tackle the national park’s appalling reputation as a ‘blackspot for raptor persecution’. The Yorkshire Dales, a national park dominated by grouse shooting, is well-known for shocking levels of raptor persecution – the illegal killing of birds of prey. Data suggests that twenty-nine satellite-tagged Hen Harriers […]
Epidemic of Gun Violence Engulfs 50 Million Victims Each Year
October 1st: “The UK is facing what campaigners describe as an epidemic of gun violence, with over 50 million victims involved annually. Individuals who step in to disrupt or expose the violence risk prosecution under legislation on aggravated trespass. This legal framework, campaigners argue, is designed less to protect public safety than to maintain the […]
How a Drone Is Helping Protect Wildlife from Hunts in the Moors
Two years ago we launched “The Protect the Wild Equipment Fund’, saying that it would provide equipment to individuals or groups who are working as ‘eyes in the field’ to tackle wildlife crime and protect wildlife. Our first purchase was radios for the excellent Cheshire Borderland Monitors, who wrote in a blog for us that […]
500 pheasants a day: billionaire’s Wiltshire shoot raises all sorts of questions
As both pro-shoot and pro-wildlife sides know, the pheasant shooting ‘season’ begins again in less than two weeks (see Protect the Wild’s Cruelty Timeline for details of ‘seasons’ for birds and mammals across the UK). Between October 1st and February 1st, around 50 million pheasants, ten million Red-legged Partridges, and around a million Mallards, almost […]
The Post Office Scandal of Wildlife: Badger Cull Exposed as a Catastrophic Mistake
The badger cull strategy, based on the results of the 1998 – 2005 Randomised Badger Control Trial (RBCT), put the wheels in motion for the widespread killing of badgers that has occurred over the last decade. Pushed by Defra and the NFU as the best way to control Bovine TB – a disease now widely […]
Hen Harrier Southern Reintroduction project dumped
“Following a thorough review, it has become clear that Natural England is no longer in a position to provide the long-term funding and resource needed to continue delivering the Hen Harrier Southern Reintroduction project, despite the progress to date. The difficult decision has therefore been made to conclude this project.” With this pitiable ‘poverty-pleading’ disclaimer […]
Big Butterfly Count: ‘broadly average’ and ‘urgent measures needed’.
As the charity Butterfly Conservation(BC) puts it starkly on their website, “Following the results of the Big Butterfly Count 2024, Butterfly Conservation have declared a butterfly emergency, and we need your help more than ever before. By taking part in Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count – a UK wide survey, you can help assess the […]
Dead ducks and geese: Lindisfarne, NE, and BASC
On 01 September we reported the shocking news that shooting lobbyists BASC (the British Association for Shooting and Conservation) were “raffling ducks and geese to be shot on National Nature Reserve”. In the post we stated that BASC were holding a raffle to “win two days’ guided wildfowling for you and a friend at Lindisfarne […]
Today is the day I walk 24 hours straight for British wildlife
So it’s the 1st of September, usually on the first of each month we run our £1 donation day where we ask supporters to donate a pound to keep us ticking over. But today is a little different. Right now I am stood opposite Parliament (photo taken just now!) about to take on a pretty […]
BASC raffling ducks and geese on National Nature Reserve
If anything sums up the disgraceful ‘normalisation’ of killing birds in England, it’s surely the ‘raffle’ that shooting lobbyists BASC (the British Association of Shooting and Conservation) are holding to “win two days’ guided wildfowling for you and a friend at Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve.” BASC notes in its sickening promotion that “Lindisfarne is renowned […]
Yet another ‘partnership’ to protect birds of prey collapses
In April 2023, the Peak District National Park Authority issued a statement that the Peak District Bird of Prey Initiative was to close as persecution cases continued (see Sun sets on failed Peak District Bird of Prey Initiative). Set up in 2011 by the National Park Authority, the ‘initiative’ was intended to restore populations of […]
Moorland Association says ‘Predators rising, Birds disappearing’…but they would, wouldn’t they
The ‘Inglorious 12th’, the start of the grouse shooting season, is just days away. It’s absolutely no coincidence at all, then, that the Moorland Association (MA), the lobby group for grouse shooting estate owners, has published an article which essentially claims that everything they do (in terms of ‘predator control’) is good, and everything the […]
Reclaim Our Moors – protest walk against grouse shooting
Timed to coincide with the start of the grouse-shooting season on the Inglorious 12th, an anti-grouse shooting protest walk will be taking place in the Peak District National Park this coming Sunday (10 August 2025). Organised by the campaign group Reclaim Our Moors (which has already featured on this Substack – see Moscar Moor: a […]
NatureScot licences slaughter of Gannet chicks
To widespread condemnation, NatureScot – Scotland’s nature agency that (supposedly) works “to improve our natural environment in Scotland and inspire everyone to care more about it” – has once again licensed the killing of young, pre-fledged Northern Gannets – known locally as ‘guga’ – on Sula Sgeir, a remote and uninhabited island north of the […]
Hen Harrier chicks fledge “against the odds”
Five Hen Harrier chicks from two different nests have fledged “against the odds”, the RSPB has announced in a press-release. What makes this ‘good news’ report so notable is that the odds stacked up against the chicks were not poor weather, lack of prey items, or Avian Flu, but the deliberate killing of the adult […]
‘National Parks’ in name only
Long-term subscribers to the Protect the Wild and End Bird Shooting Substacks may have noticed that we often use lower-case and quotation marks when we write ‘national parks’. We do so because the UK’s parks are a long, long way from being the “protected area of land, recognized for its exceptional natural beauty, diverse wildlife, […]
Lead shot to be phased out by 2029
Emma Hardy, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) has announced “significant new restrictions on lead ammunition”, aiming to “safeguard British wildlife and waterways” from its harmful effects (a disingenuous statement we discuss below). The measures will prohibit shots with over 1% lead and bullets exceeding 3% lead content, and ammunition […]
Badger dies overnight in snare on shooting estate
In May, Protect the Wild was contacted by a member of the South Yorkshire Badger Group (SYBG), a small group dedicated to the welfare, conservation, study, monitoring and public awareness of badgers. SYBG contacted us after being sent an email by a member of the public who had come across a badger caught in a […]
Ban Grouse Shooting Debate June 2025
At almost exactly 16:30 on Monday 30 June, the first of a raft of Conservative politicians reading from their BASC briefing sheets, stood up to start a ‘debate’ about banning grouse shooting. The government had already responded to Wild Justice’s petition, saying to the 104,342 of us that had signed it that it “considers that […]
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 […]
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 […]