URGENT: Support animal advocates wrongfully arrested by the Met Police
Nine women are taking action against the Metropolitan Police after being wrongfully arrested and mistreated by the force. The women, aged between 20 and 64, were arrested at an Animal Rising training event during the King’s coronation in 2023. Police claimed that the animal advocates planned to disrupt the coronation, even though they were miles […]
Scottish campaigns unite in protest, calling for AI data centre moratorium
Campaigners are set to hold a protest calling for a full moratorium on the building of AI data centres in Scotland at 11.30am on 3 September outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Campaigners in Scotland are joining together for a protest against AI data centres on 3 September. 14 grassroots groups from local communities organising […]
Left to Starve in a Cage: The Shooting Industry’s Sickening Treatment of Wild Magpies
Over the past few months we have been publishing analysis of undercover footage obtained on so-called ‘game farms’ across England. We began by looking at the sheer scale of the shooting industry, and how the adult birds (not every bird, but far too many) are sometimes treated. We’ve also looked briefly at how enormous numbers […]
57 Miles for Wildlife! Hull Wildlife Protectors are walking the Humber river so wildlife has somewhere to turn.
Hull Wildlife Protectors spend much of their time out in the field, monitoring their local hunt, the Holderness Hunt and the Brocklesby Hunt, for wildlife crime. But when they’re not treking through fields after men on horses, they turn that same energy to raising vital funds for the local rehabbers who keep wildlife alive. Donate […]
Tell the Scottish Government: Outlaw the Guga Hunt
One week ago, NatureScot rejected the 2026 Guga hunt licence. Now comes the bigger fight: making sure it never returns. The timing could not be more important. Right now, the Scottish Government is setting its priorities for the year ahead, which will be announced when Parliament returns from summer recess in just a few weeks. […]
URGENT: Borough Market must cancel plans to shoot pigeons
Reports suggest pigeons at one of London’s best-known markets could be shot tomorrow morning. Borough Market must intervene and choose humane, lasting solutions instead. We have received deeply concerning reports that pigeons at Borough Market are due to be shot at 10am tomorrow. Protect the Wild is calling on Borough Market’s management to cancel any […]
24 Hours Until Final Guga Hunt Decision – Just 12 people will decide fate of 2,000 Gannets.
This is it. Our final chance to stop the Guga hunt going ahead this year. And with just 24 hours until NatureScot’ decision, you’d think I’d be feeling more optimistic. After all, the latest scientific assessment shows the Guga hunt would decimate Sula Sgeir’s Gannet population, and both their licensing and Marine Ornithology teams have […]
Northern Ireland starts trapping and killing badgers, despite little evidence it works – Eye on the Wild #10
Welcome to the tenth 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 Badgers in parts of Northern Ireland are now being trapped and tested […]
Fireworks are terrifying wildlife. Take action now to ban them!
The government has launched a public consultation on fireworks, asking for views on issues including noise limits, banned products, and the rules around sale and use. It’s a rare opportunity to tell the government directly that the harm fireworks cause to wildlife can no longer be ignored. At Protect the Wild, our position is clear: […]
Guga hunt licence set to be REFUSED
If you haven’t already seen the news on our social media, NatureScot has published the papers for its upcoming board meeting on 3 August, and its own licensing and marine ornithology experts have made a clear recommendation: The 2026 Guga hunt licence should be refused. I hesitate to celebrate too soon, but this almost certainly […]
The new Defra Secretary must not hand the hunts a new loophole.
Andy Burnham has appointed the aptly named Angela Eagle as head of Defra. For anyone who cares about ending the cruelty of hunting, this is a moment of real opportunity. Eagle has a genuine anti-hunting record, with knowledge of exactly how hunts behave. So we are calling on her to examine new evidence, outlined below, […]
Thrown Away Alive: What our investigator found in a skip full of pheasant eggs
Over the past few months we have been publishing analysis of undercover footage obtained on so-called ‘game farms’ across England. We began by looking at the sheer scale of the shooting industry, and how the adult birds (not every bird, but far too many) are sometimes treated. We’ve also looked briefly at how enormous numbers […]
End the Guga Hunt Campaign Heads to Lush Stores
What happens when you spend four days asking complete strangers whether baby Gannets should still be beaten to death in the name of tradition? You discover just how ready people are for change. After seeing the work we’ve been doing to end the Guga Hunt, Lush invited us into their stores to raise awareness of […]
Church of England votes AGAINST rewilding: Eye on the Wild #8
Welcome to the eighth 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 The Church of England has voted AGAINST a plan to rewild 30% of […]
Why I’m pulling out of the Clacton by-election
We’re not going to be putting my name forward as a candidate in the Clacton by-election after all. Here’s the honest version of how we got here. When the major parties all refused to field a candidate against Farage, my first instinct was to sit this one out. It wasn’t our fight to have. The […]
Which org wants to shoot Ring-necked Parakeets for ‘sport’ (that would be BASC)…
Yes, we’ve mocked up the header image, but back in March, BASC’s head of policy and campaigns urged members to flood a government consultation on amending the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 with calls for a long list of birds to be added to the so-called ‘quarry list’: a list of wild birds that can […]
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 […]
We Protested Outside NatureScot as their Board Discussed the Guga Hunt
This morning, we were there. As NatureScot’s Board gathered to discuss the Guga hunt licence application, we were outside their headquarters – with placards, megaphones and Gannet suits, reminding them that they have the power to stop this hunt, and the responsibility to do so. Yesterday, we asked you to email NatureScot’s Board ahead of […]
I went to the place where the Guga hunt begins. I didn’t expect to see this.
On the northernmost tip of the Isle of Lewis lies Ness, a remote district comprising 16 small villages. At first glance, there is little to distinguish Ness from countless other Scottish coastal communities. Quiet villages of weather-beaten houses, narrow roads and rugged coastline overlooking the Atlantic. But there’s one thing that makes Ness unlike anywhere […]
Scotland’s Shooting Industry Wants Wildlife Killing to be UNESCO-Recognised
The shooting industry in Scotland just applied for UNESCO heritage status. Yes, UNESCO, that thing you associate with the wonders of the world, humanity’s greatest cultural and natural treasures. Not shooting, trapping and poisoning wildlife for fun. The British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC) Scotland has submitted both wildfowling (hunting of wild ducks, geese, […]
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 […]
Millions saw our message: PROTECT BRITISH WILDLIFE
In the early hours of this morning, I found myself standing on a stage beside Andy Burnham, one of the most influential politicians in Britain and a man many believe could one day become Prime Minister. Millions of people watching national television coverage saw one clear message: Protect British Wildlife. There was no escaping it. […]
Labour MP Loses his Temper at Guga Hunt Protestors
We appear to have pissed off a Labour MP. Allow us to explain why we’re not sorry. Torcuil Crichton, Labour MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (the Western Isles in Scotland), accused us and other anti-Guga hunt campaigners of “attention-seeking” “virtue-signalling” behaviour and of having a “saviour-complex” for trying to stop the annual killing of […]
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 […]
Free Rio: The Manchester Restaurant Keeping a Macaw in a Glass Box
The blue and gold macaw who cannot fly, cannot hide, and cannot live as nature intended, and what you can do to help. If you thought humans could not treat wild animals any worse, think again. The Gardens Lounge, Manchester, is using one of the most intelligent birds on the planet as decoration. Rio is […]
‘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 […]
New polling shows huge surge in opposition to the Guga hunt.
The tides are well and truly shifting against the Guga hunt – the cruel annual killing of Gannet chicks off the North West coast of Scotland – and we have the stats to prove it. Our latest polling shows that 77% of Scottish people with a view want the Guga hunt to be banned. In […]
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 […]
We paid a visit to the most vile shop in Scotland
Last week, we were travelling down from some campaigning work in Inverness, and we passed a shop called The House of Bruar. We decided to go in for a look, and what we found shocked us. The House of Bruar is a high-end department store in the Scottish highlands, and it looks innocent from the […]
We Just Tried to Hand NatureScot the Biggest Petition in Their History
We just travelled to NatureScot headquarters carrying two things: A giant Gannet suit. And a giant cheque representing what is now the largest petition NatureScot has ever received. Over 163,000 people have now signed the call for Scotland’s nature agency to stop the licensed slaughter of Gannet chicks on Sula Sgeir. HELP US REACH 200K […]
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 […]
Polar Bears International: Still refusing further protection for polar bears
Protect the Wild recently published an exposé of international conservation charity Polar Bears International (PBI). Our supporters have already sent more than 6000 messages to PBI calling for them to adopt a firm stance against the international trade in polar bear furs, skins and body parts, and take a stand against trophy hunting. So far, […]
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 […]
National train companies have ordered the killing of pigeons
Something cruel has been uncovered. Not hidden in some distant place, not happening out of sight; but right there, in our train stations, in the spaces we pass through every day. Pigeons are being killed systematically, quietly and often, brutally. And this isn’t one rogue decision. It’s happening across the rail network. Manchester Pigeon Rehab […]
May 9th: Stand With Us in London: End Trail Hunting for Good
On May 9th, 3.15-4:30pm, in Central London, something powerful is happening. Wildlife lovers, campaigners, rural residents, and people from all walks of life will come together for one clear reason: to demand an end to the cruelty that continues under the false banner of “trail hunting.” This rally, organised by the League Against Cruel Sports, […]
I’m standing for Scottish Parliament…as a Gannet
I’m standing in the Scottish elections as a giant Gannet. Yes, really. I’m officially in the running to become a Member of Scottish Parliament. Why? To force one issue out of the shadows and into the political spotlight: the Guga hunt. Here’s where you come in. We’ve created a simple e-letter you can send to […]
EXPOSED: ‘Polar Bear Protection’ Charity Backs Killing Them
Polar Bears are well known and much beloved animals. I bet not many of Protect the Wild’s readers have seen one in real life, but we have watched the wildlife documentaries, seen photos. Many children are familiar with what a polar bear cub looks like. What else do we know about them? Well, they’re threatened […]
SCANDAL: Guga hunt island is Scotland’s worst performing Gannet colony.
Sula Sgeir is Scotland’s worst-performing Gannet colony – yet the body responsible for protecting it is still allowing birds to be killed. Each year a group of men travel to the remote island of Sula Sgeir in northern Scotland to kill young Gannet seabirds – known as “Guga” – as part of a traditional hunt. […]
BRILLIANT NEWS: Govt confirms Badger cull WILL end
Yesterday I sat down with representatives from other NGOs for an hour-long meeting with DEFRA Minister Angela Eagle MP. Within moments of the meeting starting, she said something we were all waiting to hear: this government will end the culling of badgers once the final Cumbria licence has played out. I reacted by pretending to […]
Abolish the Guga Hunt activists arrested after 60+ hour rooftop occupation
Three sleepless nights. Two arrests. One clear demand: End the Guga hunt. At 4am on Friday 20th March, while most of the country slept, two men climbed onto the roof of NatureScot headquarters in Inverness. Perched on the highest ridge above the building’s glass atrium, they locked themselves to a railing, unfurled a banner, and […]
Gordon Ramsay cooked young seabirds into a ‘delicacy’ and the footage is hard to stomach.
Footage has emerged showing celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay travelling to a remote Scottish island in search of a “rare” “delicacy”. But what he uncovered wasn’t cuisine – it was pure cruelty. In the four minute long clip, filmed as part of an episode of his series The F Word, Ramsay sets out for the Isle […]
Silent Protest Outside Scottish Parliament as Guga Hunt Petition Hits 100,000
Today outside the Scottish Parliament, we stood in silence. Tape over our mouths. Not because we had nothing to say. But because more than 100,000 people have spoken out against the Guga hunt – and they are now in danger of being silenced. In less than 48 hours, the Petitions Committee will make their final […]
Judicial Review Launched Over Public Order Act Amendment
On 4 February, the House of Lords voted not to block the Government’s changes to the Public Order Act, expanding the definition of “key national infrastructure” to include animal testing facilities. That vote came after months of campaigning by Camp Beagle, Animal Aid, Naturewatch Foundation, Protect the Wild, and others. Tens of thousands of emails […]
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 […]
Standing With a Sign Shouldn’t Mean Prison: Why We Took Action Yesterday
Yesterday, campaigners from Protect the Wild, Animal Rising, and members of the public came together in London for a Day of Action against the government’s attempt to quietly expand anti-protest powers under the Public Order Act. We gathered outside the Home Office with one clear demand: withdraw the proposal to classify animal testing facilities as […]
What we achieved together for wildlife in 2025
It’s been a massive year for Protect the Wild and for the fight for British wildlife. Honestly, it would take me hours to list everything we’ve done in 2025. So instead, I want to share some of the highlights. The moments that mattered, the progress we made, and what you helped make possible. This was […]