West Midland Hunt Sab receives payout from police who posed as postal workers in dawn raid
A member of West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs has received a “substantial payout” after being targeted by Thames Valley Police (TVP). The sab took a civil case against the police for false imprisonment, assault, trespass and aggravated damages. TVP was given false information by a member of Warwickshire Beagles, which it was all too ready to […]
Kept Animals Bill was ditched to protect the hunting industry, Defra letter suggests
The government has dropped the Kept Animals Bill, which promised to alleviate some of the worst excesses of animal cruelty. And it dropped the bill to protect its mates in the hunting industry. When the government dropped the Kept Animals Bill, it provided a cryptic reason for doing so. Mark Spencer, Defra minister, claimed on […]
New footage shows the ‘untold suffering’ of legal traps on a notorious grouse shooting estate
Moorland Monitors has captured footage of a crow caught up and unnaturally twisted in a ‘clam trap’ on open access land in the Peak District. And it shows what one person can do with just a phone. Moorland Monitors shared phone-filmed footage showing two crows in two separate cages set next to each other. It […]
Cheshire Police have summoned a man to court on illegal hunting charges
Cheshire Police have issued a summons for a Northwich-based man to attend court on two illegal hunting charges. The unnamed man faces two charges under Section 1 of the Hunting Act. The first relates to an incident that occurred at Chorley Green on 22 November 2022. The second relates to an incident a few days […]
Norfolk police charge three men over viral footage hunting incident
Norfolk Constabulary has said that it’s filed a number of charges against three men from the West Norfolk Foxhounds over two hunting incidents in February. According to the police, the first of these incidents occurred at Tittleshall on 8 February, during which Norfolk/Suffolk Hunt Saboteurs said the West Norfolk Foxhounds chased a fox. The second […]
Spate of cats and dogs caught in snares shows just how widespread these cruel devices are
The past few weeks have seen a spate of news articles about traps and snares catching domestic creatures, leading to a variety of outcomes. And all of them are a reminder of just how cruel the devices are. On 16 May, Halesowen News reported that a cat named Loki “dragged himself home” after he was […]
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 […]
Puckeridge Hunt escapes conviction despite judge finding its action ‘deeply suspicious’
Huntsman Arun Squire has escaped a conviction of illegal hunting. However, the judge recognised that it wasn’t his actions that got him off the charge, but the wording of the law itself. Squire appeared at Stevenage Magistrates Court on 15 and 16 May on a Section 1 Hunting Act charge. It came after hunt saboteurs […]
The Welsh Senedd has just approved a ban on snares without amendments
The Welsh Senedd has held its third stage reading of the Agriculture Bill. This proposed legislation, amongst other things, contains a section on the use of snares. And despite attempts to water down restrictions, the ban has continued unabated. On 16 May, Wales’s Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee held the Stage 3 reading 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 […]
Paltry punishment for wealthy company that deliberately burnt moor
A company worth almost £20 million has pleaded guilty after it deliberately burnt swathes of moorland in the Peak District. Dunlin Ltd, which owns Midhope Moors, didn’t have a licence to set fire to the land but was fined just a paltry £2,645. Dunlin’s land agents, JM Osbourne Rural and Sporting, had initially applied for […]
Damning new report slates government’s future plans to annihilate badgers
The government has said that it will end the badger cull as we know it by 2026. But it will replace intensive four-year culling with a plan to murder 100% of badgers in specific areas of England. Now a new report – authored by independent researchers, veterinarians, and epidemiologists – argues that these continued plans […]
Harrowing photos show why you shouldn’t have a BBQ or make a fire on moorland
Photos of recent wildfires on Marsden Moor are a stark reminder that we need to treat our precious moorland with care. Marsden Moor is in the southern Pennines, and is owned by the National Trust. It is a site of specific scientific interest (SSSI), due to its blanket bog habitat, as well as its breeding […]
Another huntsman is guilty of illegal hunting. And this time he admitted to it.
Shaun Parish plead guilty to illegal hunting at Peterborough Magistrates Court on 11 May. He is huntsman for the now three-times convicted Fitzwilliam Hunt. Police brought charges against Parish after Peterborough Hunt Sabs filmed him hunting a fox near at Stibbington, Peterborough, on 5 March 2022. The sab group published the footage, which shows Parish […]
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 […]
Thanks to the shooting industry, your dog’s food might cause lead posioning
A new study into lead shot has confirmed what we already know – it’s creating toxicity in foods that reach supermarket shelves. But this study shows that it has affected dog food too. On 3 May, environmental research journal Ambio published a study into the levels of lead found in commercial dog food. Headed up […]
Cotswold Hunt sanctions aren’t enough: it needs to be shut down
Hunt’s governing body, the British Hound Sports Association (BHSA), has failed to take any meaningful lasting action against the criminal Cotswold Hunt. The BHSA suspended the Cotswold Hunt in March after Channel 4 exposed harrowing footage of a fox, who had been bundled into a bag by the hunt and buried alive. But a BHSA […]
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 […]
Family cat found dead in garden, a snare around his neck
Tigger, a domestic cat, died after a snare caught him around the neck. He was found in his family’s neighbour’s garden. But the RSPCA believe he actually died elsewhere. Tigger’s body was found on 11 April in Netherhall, on the outskirts of Leicester. A snare had pulled tight around his neck. However, Leicestershire Live reported […]
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 […]
‘Slow strangulation’ and ‘organ damage’: SnareWatch report shows the gruesome reality of snare use
Scottish animal welfare charity OneKind has released its 2022 SnareWatch Report, and it’s distressing reading. Snares are primarily used on foxes on bird-shooting estates in an attempt to stop the mammals from predating on birds such as pheasants and grouse. They are wire nooses that trap and hold the animal until someone comes and shoots […]
GOOD NEWS: Two Somerset beagle packs to merge
The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) have reported that two Somerset beagle packs are merging. And it says it’s another sign that the pastime is in “terminal decline”. On 24 April, the HSA said that the Ilminster Beagles and West Somerset Beagles will merge for the 2023/23 season. The new pack will take the name Ilminster […]
Court bans hare coursing offenders from keeping dogs for 11 years
Aberdeen Sheriff Court has banned two men from keeping dogs for a total of 11 years. It comes after video footage caught the pair hare coursing. According to AberdeenLive, a witness filmed Steven McDonald and Richard Hanratty using lurchers to course a hare in Mosstown Field, Udny, in August 2019. The witness also saw two […]
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 […]
Hunt sabs publish ‘unique’ footage of stag hunted to exhaustion
Hunt saboteurs published footage of a stag that was so exhausted he laid down and allowed a human to sit next to him. The Quantock Staghounds had hunted the stag for several hours through the day. And this “unique” footage reveals the brutality of stag and deer hunting. On 17 April, North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs […]
Northern Ireland: men responsible for fate of badgers have vested interest in cull
Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) is inching closer to culling badgers after it asked companies to submit “expressions of interests to deliver the culling element” of its bovine TB (bTB) strategy. The deadline for applications is today (21 April 2023). The government department said that it will introduce culls in […]
The government murdered 33,627 badgers in 2022. It tested zero for bovine TB
The government, influenced by its farming lobby friends, continues to scapegoat badgers for the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB). Yet it didn’t test one of the 33,627 badgers culled in 2022 for the disease. Natural England, which works on behalf of Defra, recently published its figures of the number of badgers murdered in the 2022 […]
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” […]
Gruesome footage highlights the criminality of England’s stag hunters
Quantock Staghounds (QSH) is one of the UK’s most brutal hunts. It continually murders Somerset’s stags with impunity, despite being caught on film. Now, recent footage – caught by North Dorset Hunt Sabs – is a stark reminder of just how criminal this hunt really is. The sabs’ footage – which you can view here […]
Government sanctions killing of 7,500 badgers in Avon since 2019
England’s badger population is being annihilated, and one of the worst-hit areas is Avon, in the southwest. 1,521 badgers were murdered in the region throughout September and October 2022 during the government’s annual cull. Avon has two ‘cull zones’ which Natural England issues licences for. One zone was in its fourth and final year of […]
First convictions using new hare coursing laws show fresh legislation is possible
New anti-hare coursing legislation came into effect last summer. We’re now seeing the first prosecutions under that law. And it shows courts can have an impact on wildlife crime – if the government wants them to. Police gained new powers to deal with hare coursing on 1 August 2022. As part of the far-reaching and […]
Natural England just published figures for the 2022 badger cull and they’re heartbreaking
Natural England has just released figures for the number of badgers murdered by its cull in 2022. And the numbers for the cull’s decade anniversary make for bleak reading. On 5 April, Natural England published its review of figures for the intensive and supplementary phases of the badger cull during 2022. Defra organises the cull […]
Hunt saboteurs hit back at Countryside Alliance ‘meltdown’
The Countryside Alliance (CA) is up in arms over Wiltshire Police’s decision not to employ fox hunters on its Rural Crime Team. It has launched a campaign to try to reverse the “unjust and divisive decision immediately”. Wiltshire Police announced that it would not employ hunters, past or present, onto its Rural Crime Team (RCT) […]
Chris Packham’s fundraiser highlights how wildlife killers try to operate in secret
Chris Packham is taking legal action against hunting and shooting industry media platform Fieldsports Channel. And you can donate to help him pursue the case in the courts. Unknown persons have targetted Chris Packham in recent years with a series of unsavoury acts. Someone strung dead crows up on his gate, for example, just months […]
Natural England has been covertly expanding badger cull areas
The government’s annual badger cull, which began in 2013, has always been shrouded in secrecy. And now Freedom of Information (FOI) responses reveal the extent of Natural England’s underhanded tactics as it murders our beloved species. Environmental journalist Tracy Keeling accessed the FOI requests, and reported her findings in the Canary. She found that since […]
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 […]
Wales is holding a public consultation on licensing parts of the shooting industry
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is asking the public for its thoughts on new regulation for releasing pheasants, partridges and other ‘non-native’ birds killed by the shooting industry. At present, there are regulations around the release of birds inside Wales’ sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs). However, beyond those areas, there is almost no regulatory oversight. […]
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 […]
Cotswold Hunt suspended after fox is buried alive in a sack
The British Hound Sports Association has suspended the Cotswold Hunt after a fox was bundled into a bag and buried alive. Harrowing footage, captured by Cirencester Illegal Hunt Watch on Saturday 18 March, was shown on Channel 4 News. A hunt saboteur, known as Magpie, told the news channel: “As I got down to about […]
Fernie Hunt: Magistrates find huntsman not guilty of illegal fox hunting
Leicester magistrates found a huntsman of the Fernie Hunt not guilty of illegally hunting a fox. The verdict came after the prosecution was unable to prove intent. BBC News reported that magistrates in Leicester found William Hanson not guilty on 28 March. Hanson is huntsman for the Fernie Hunt. He was charged in June 2022 […]
VICTORY! Wiltshire Police’s Rural Crime Team will no longer employ fox hunters
Hunt saboteurs have claimed a victory after Wiltshire Police announced that it has conducted a review into its Rural Crime Team (RCT). The review comes after public outrage at the appointment of police officer Cheryl Knight into the RCT. Knight has several connections to fox hunting, including field riding with the Beaufort Hunt, as well […]
Northern Ireland crisps boss loves hunting foxes
UPDATED 26/03/23: This article originally contained an image of packaging from the Republic of Ireland-based Tayto, a separate and unconnected brand. The image is replaced with a photo of Tayto castle, home of the northern Irish company. The boss of world-renowned northern Irish crisp producer Tayto is a “devoted” foxhunter. And local hunt saboteurs have […]
Dunston Harriers: Magistrates find three members not guilty of illegally hunting a hare
Great Yarmouth magistrates found three people connected with the Dunston Harriers not guilty of illegal hunting. Geoffrey Block, Josh Worthing-Hayes and Lewis Ryland each faced a Section 1 charge of illegal hunting. The charges date back to 18 January 2022, when a hunt monitor from Norfolk and Suffolk Against Live Quarry Hunting filmed the Dunston […]
As Defra ends vaccination scheme, the fate of badgers is bleak
As the government’s badger bovine tuberculosis (bTB) vaccination scheme comes to an end, campaigners have accused Defra of pulling the rug from under them. The Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme (BAVS) was due to run from 2019 to 2023. The government provided some funding towards private projects to vaccinate badgers in the so-called ‘Edge Area’ – […]
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 […]
Vale of White Horse Hunt: fox hunting case dropped due to police and CPS errors
Swindon magistrates dismissed the case against Duncan and Verity Drewett due to a series of apparent errors by Wiltshire Police and Wessex Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Two people associated with the Vale of White Horse Hunt were due to have a trial at Swindon Magistrates’ court on 20 March. The case related to footage obtained […]
GUILTY: Hunt supporter convicted after running down saboteur
On 15 March 2023, South Dorset Hunt supporter Stewart Masters was found guilty after running down a hunt saboteur from Weymouth Animal Rights (WAR). WAR said: “On 12th February 2022, three of our group were waiting on a pick up when one of them was deliberately run into by a South Dorset Hunt supporter, Stewart […]
Join protests against a shooting estate where snares have trapped dogs
National Anti-Snaring Campaign (NASC) is launching a series of protests to highlight the ubiquity of snaring on a West Sussex shooting estate. NASC announced that it is planning to hold a series of protests at Arundel Castle, West Sussex, beginning on 1 April. The group will hold further protests on 7, 15, 22 and 28 […]