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 […]
White-tailed Eagle: first chick born in England since 1780
In a remarkable triumph of forward-thinking conservation and persistence, a White-tailed Eagle chick has hatched in England for the first time in more than 240 years. The location of the nest is being kept secret. Once widespread across Great Britain the huge birds of prey were widely persecuted. The last known English pair bred on […]
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 […]
White-tailed Eagles poisoned in Northern Ireland
A reward of £5,000 has been offered for information following the poisoning of two White-tailed Eagles in Co Antrim. The birds were found on Glenwherry Hillfarm on May 15th and a post-mortem examination revealed both birds had ingested the insecticide bendiocarb. Conservationists monitoring one of the birds, which was fitted with a satellite tag, became […]
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 […]
Illegally set spring trap causes death of Barn Owl
North Yorkshire Police have reported on the sentencing of a man after the death of a Barn Owl trapped illegally on an allotment plot in Hunmanby, near Scarborough. On 8 April 2023, a dog walker discovered a badly-injured adult Barn Owl caught in a spring-operated trap in the allotments at Sands Lane, Hunmanby. Despite the […]
Gamekeeper Francis Addison convicted in dead goshawks investigation
On the 29th of June, Francis Addison (72) a part-time gamekeeper of South Park, Weeting, pleaded guilty at Norwich Magistrates’ court to NINETEEN charges in connection with a multi-agency raptor persecution investigation led by Suffolk Police, including the possession of five shot Goshawks. As Protect the Wild reported back in January this year, the bodies […]
Melbreak Huntsman Christopher Nixon convicted of assault (Part Two)
As we reported in Part One of this article, in June 2023 Christopher Nixon (pictured above), a huntsman with the notorious Melbreak Hunt was convicted of the common assault of Darren Ward and fined £945. Mr Ward (Darren) had been trying for months to keep the Melbreak and five other fell packs off his land, […]
Melbreak Huntsman Christopher Nixon convicted of assault (Part One)
On the 12th of June, Christopher Nixon, the Melbreak Hunt’s huntmaster, was convicted of the common assault of Darren Ward, and fined a total of £945. The assault by Nixon, who was challenged while walking with seven dogs on land owned by Mr Ward, was recorded on a phone and used as evidence in court. […]
Short-eared Owl shot and killed on Peak District grouse moor
The RSPB has released news of the shooting of a Short-eared Owl on Broomhead Estate, a notorious grouse moor in the Peak District National Park. The incident took place last summer but wasn’t publicised until police investigations had concluded. The shooting was witnessed and recorded on a mobile phone by an individual birding on the […]
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 […]
“Huge blow for struggling species” as yet more Hen Harriers ‘disappear’
The suspicious disappearance of two rare Hen Harriers is “a huge blow for a struggling species”, the RSPB has said. The UK’s most persecuted bird of prey, an adult Hen Harrier ‘disappeared’ from the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire on 4 May after its satellite-tag stopped transmitting, and another bird went missing in what the […]
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 […]
MoD respond to petition calling for end of hunting licences
Protect the Wild recently launched a campaign to ban so-called ‘trail hunting’ on Ministry of Defence (MoD) land, part of our wider determination to end hunting with dogs permanently and achieve a Proper Ban on Hunting. While most major landowners have seen through the ‘smokescreen’ of ‘trail hunting’, the MoD is still issuing licences that […]
Hen Harriers: Illegal killing major cause of death, says RSPB
As everyone but the shooting industry acknowledges, illegal killing IS the main cause of death in Hen Harriers aged between one and two years, and a major cause of death in birds under one year, according to a new paper, published in the journal Biological Conservation, and led by the RSPB. According to a press […]
Protectors of the Wild – putting eyes in the field
Have you ever wondered what UK law says about hunting, shooting, collecting bird eggs, or about foxes, badgers, and bats? About operating drones, using airguns, or driving quad bikes legally? What the Hunting Act 2004 says, or whether the snare or spring trap you’ve just found is being used within the law or not? Us […]
Animal cruelty offences: new sentencing guidelines published
Updated sentencing guidelines for animal cruelty offences that reflect changes introduced by the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021, were published today by the Sentencing Council. For the first time, a new ‘Animal cruelty’ guideline gives judges and magistrates in England and Wales guidance for sentencing the most serious animal cruelty offences, including causing unnecessary suffering, […]
“Sickened”: Hen Harrier had head pulled off while still alive
Natural England (whose useless scheme to boost populations of the rare Hen Harrier has been slammed repeatedly by conservationists) says it is “sickened by evidence of persecution” of Hen Harriers after a staggering twenty of the rare birds ‘went missing’ from areas managed for grouse shooting in northern England in the past year. Hen Harrier […]
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 […]
End Stag Hunting: Dr Amir Khan lends voice to new animation
Protect the Wild has launched a new short animation slamming illegal stag hunting and featuring the voice of broadcaster, wildlife campaigner and full-time NHS GP Dr Amir Khan. In our animation Dr Khan explains how deer hunts can last up to six hours and are ‘exempt’ under the Hunting Act 2004 because hunts claim they […]
Sun sets on failed Peak District Bird of Prey Initiative
According to a statement by the Peak District National Park Authority, the Peak District Bird of Prey Initiative is to close as persecution cases continue. Set up in 2011 by the National Park Authority, the ‘initiative’ was intended to restore populations of birds of prey (or raptors) to 1990s levels, but has crashed amidst ongoing […]
Time for shooting and hunting to acknowledge the truth about ‘pests’
An article in The Guardian this week headlined, “Lichens, slime moulds and wasps: RHS lists top beneficial wildlife for garden” should be required reading for the shooting and hunting industries. Written by Helena Horton, it comes thirteen months after the same journalist wrote a Guardian article with the headline “‘Planet friendly’: RHS to no longer […]
Cambridgeshire: Buzzard shot in head with airgun
ITV News is reporting that a female buzzard has been found ‘thin and weak’ in a garden in Cambridgeshire after surviving being shot with an airgun. The bird was taken to a vet in Ely where an x-ray revealed she had an airgun pellet lodged in her head. The RSPCA said it was a “miracle” […]
Natural Resources Wales and one-sided ‘compromise’
As Protect the Wild’s Glen Black outlined in a March 31st news post, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is asking the public for its thoughts on new regulations designed to licence the release of pheasants and partridges by the shooting industry. Glen wrote that we need to ‘keep our eyes on the prize’ and that ‘those […]
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 […]
A visit to Secret World Wildlife Rescue
“Oh, the weather outside is frightful But the welcome is so delightful…” With apologies to Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn, but as Storm Mathis threatened to drown the Somerset Levels and blow me into the mud-brown swollen dykes along the sides of the road (mental note to self, the M5 isn’t so pretty a route […]
Co Durham: Red Kite found ‘peppered with shot’ on grouse moor
The RSPB has said that a Red Kite found this month peppered with lead shot in Edmundbyers, County Durham is currently fighting for their life in a bird hospital. This is the second report of a shot Red Kite in just a few days, following news that a witness saw a Red Kite being shot […]
Scotland: Red Kite shot on Lochindorb Estate
Police Scotland have appealed for information after a witness reported the shooting of a Red Kite on a grouse shooting estate near Grantown-on-Spey. The Kite was recovered by the Scottish SPCA but the gunshot injuries were so severe the bird had to be euthanised. Red Kites have full legal protection under the Wildlife and Countryside […]
Chris Packham narrates powerful animation against hunting on MoD land
Protect the Wild have launched a new short animation ‘End Hunting on MoD (Ministry of Defence) Land’ featuring the voice of beloved naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham. The 45 second film is backed up with a petition demanding that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) stops issuing ‘trail hunting’ licences to hunts wanting to take advantage […]
CAMPAIGN: End Hunting on MoD land
Yesterday Protect the Wild launched a new petition-based campaign and a new animation: End Hunting on MoD (Ministry of Defence) Land. Within two hours our social media posts had been viewed almost 50k times, and by midday this morning over 5000 people had already signed our petition to the MoD calling on them to stop […]
Anu: yet another Hen Harrier ‘disappears’
To quote the RSPB, “Hopes dashed for vanished Hen Harrier Anu, whose tag was found cut off after roosting on grouse moor”. Anu, a satellite tagged Hen Harrier, vanished after roosting near Upper Midhope in the Peak District National Park – on land managed for driven grouse shooting. RSPB Investigations Officers located the bird’s tag […]
PTW Equipment Fund: Cotswolds Hunt Sabs
This month Protect the Wild has been pleased to be able to respond to a request from Cotswolds Hunt Sabs (formerly the South West Hunt Sabs) for help topping up public donations they’d received to buy personal safety equipment to use in the field. As their name suggests the Cotswolds Hunt Sabs mostly sab hunts […]
WILTSHIRE: Protest at appointment of hunt supporting Rural Crime Team Officer
As has been widely reported (including by Protect the Wild), a peaceful protest was planned for today outside Wiltshire Police HQ in Devizes. Sabs and campaigners are furious that Wiltshire Police have recently announced Cheryl Knight as its new recruit to their Rural Crime team. Hunt saboteurs have highlighted Knight’s links to both the Beaufort […]
PTW Equipment Fund: Cheshire Against Blood Sports
This month Protect the Wild has been pleased to be able to respond to a request from Cheshire Against Blood Sports for body cameras to record evidence and protect them from members and supporters of the Cheshire Hunt – the current home of notorious huntsman and fox killer Ollie Finnegan. We were able to supply […]
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 […]
“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 […]
Hare courser has penalty increased after appealing sentence
Ryan Thomas Spence, 33, of Redcar, became the first offender in North Yorkshire to be given a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) for hare coursing offences last year. Spence, described as a ‘prolific courser’, was handed the banning order following a North Yorkshire Police investigation which saw him convicted of hunting wild mammals with dogs (contrary […]
PTW Wildlife Rescue/Animal Hospital Donation: Secret World Wildlife Rescue
Thanks to our supporters, Protect the Wild has been delighted to be able to donate to a wildlife rescue that is doing fantastic work in the south of England: Secret World Wildlife Rescue. Based in Somerset, Secret World Wildlife Rescue has rescued on average 5000 animals every year since it was set up in 1992. […]
DORSET: Gamekeeper slapped on wrist for multiple raptor deaths
Gamekeeper Paul Allen of Wimborne St Giles, appeared at Weymouth Magistrates’ Court on 16 February (2023) following a guilty plea last month relating to multiple raptor persecution offences. As we reported on Protect the Wild in January (Yet more dead buzzards and yet another gamekeeper in court) the bodies of six shot Buzzards and the […]
Gamekeepers burn moors above Sheffield
Avian Flu, declining biodiversity, and growing awareness of animal sentience, be damned. Warnings about the impacts of air pollution and microscopic smoke particulates on lung health and chronic respiratory problems, be damned. Climate change, be damned. Opportunities for local residents to enjoy the first blue skies and the first fresh air of the coming spring, […]
Royal Agricultural University: Sick stunt as fox corpse tied to car roof
Protect the Wild and the Daily Mail don’t often agree on matters concerning wildlife, but their headline on Feb 7th “Outrage after students at Britain’s top agricultural university strap dead fox to the roof of a car for charity rally” just about nails it. As the Mail explained, “Students at a prestigious university dubbed ‘Oxbridge […]
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 […]
PTW Equipment Fund: North London Hunt Sabs
This month Protect the Wild has been pleased to be able to respond to a request from the North London Hunt Sabs for help with repairs to their vehicle. Ordinarily we provide equipment rather than fund repairs like this, but we felt that in this instance our supporters (who ultimately provide the funds we use […]
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 […]
Five shot Goshawks dumped in Suffolk wood
On 17th January Suffolk Police’s Rural, Wildlife & Heritage Unit posted a request on their Twitter feed for information after the discovery of the bodies of five young (Northern) Goshawks dumped in Forestry England’s King’s Forest near Thetford in Suffolk. The large and powerful birds – fully grown juveniles likely to have hatched just last […]
Bird of prey poisonings: public at risk, says Lincolnshire Police
Aaron Flint, a wildlife crime officer from Lincolnshire Police, has warned of the risk to humans, dogs and cats from poisons used to illegally kill birds of prey. Detective Constable Aaron Flint, from the Lincolnshire Police Rural Crime Action Team, has featured in an article published on the BBC News website. The article makes clear […]
Banning Snares: a parliamentary debate in name only
On January 9th MPs gathered in a room in Westminster Hall to debate e-petition 600593, which as the 102,616 people who signed it will remember was a demand by Animal Aid that “The Government should prohibit the sale, use and manufacture of free-running snares under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, putting them in the […]
Podcast 02: Snares and trailing a new campaign
A short podcast by Charlie Moores about snares – recorded the day before he headed to London to listen to a pro-hunt and pro-shoot government ‘debate’ last year’s petition organised by Animal Aid that called for a ban on the use, sale, and manufacture of snares… “If you’re a certain age you may remember […]
Yet more dead buzzards and yet another gamekeeper in court
Dorset gamekeeper Paul Scott Allen appeared before Weymouth Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, January 4 where he pleaded guilty to seven offences including possession of a live or dead bird (or parts thereof) and misuse of a regulated poison. Allen appeared in court after an extensive investigation by police which began in November 2020 when a […]
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 […]
BREAKING: Somerset County Council will NOT close roads for Boxing Day hunts
After more than 2000 letters protesting the planned closures of public roads to facilitate three Boxing Day hunt parades poured into their offices, Somerset County Council has today issued a statement apologising for ‘misunderstandings’ and confirmed to Protect the Wild that hunts will now be meeting on private roads. As Protect the Wild reported […]
Hen Harrier nest attacked and chicks stamped to death
North Yorkshire Hen Harrier chicks found dead with broken bones after ‘deliberate’ attack The raptor persecution hot spot of North Yorkshire (a ‘black hole for raptors‘ according to the Yorkshire Post) is in the news again following a (belated) press release from the local police. In an area dominated by grouse moors and frequent reports […]