Police arrested a hunt saboteur that helped shut down a shoot on the so-called ‘Glorious Twelfth’
Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs said that police arrested a member of their group on 12 August. The arrest occurred as hunt saboteurs disrupted a shoot on Wemmergill Estate, County Durham, on the first day of the grouse-killing season. In a Facebook post, Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs said that sabs had spent several hours that day preventing a […]
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 […]
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 […]
Cautious optimism: What a new government could mean for wildlife
The Tories are out. Labour has won the election with a huge majority, taking almost 300 seats more than the Conservatives. What might this mean for wildlife? Protect the Wild outlines our hopes for the next government.
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 […]
Will our vote make a difference for wildlife? Yes.
The General Election will take place on 4 July. Over the years, the Tories have effectively declared war on Britain’s wildlife. But are the other parties any better? Protect the Wild takes a look at their manifestos, and whether they pledge to defend animals. The latest polls give Labour a clear lead, with the Conservatives […]
Rishi Sunak: it’s time to go!
Ahead of a worsening economic outlook and with his personal popularity at a historic low, on May 22nd Rishi Sunak decided ‘enough was enough’ and called a General Election. It was certainly about time. Even without his self-sabotaging gaffes this week – including of course his spectacular lack of respect for the thousands who died […]
Here’s another reason we need to vote in the PCC elections on 2nd May
The Police and Crime Commissioner elections take place on 2 May, on the same day as people turn out to vote in the local elections. In North Yorkshire and South Yorkshire, the PCC responsibilities are being taken over by the new mayors. If you live in Yorkshire, this is your chance to vote for a […]
VICTORY! Wild Justice proves that trigger-happy Tories acted unlawfully
Campaign group Wild Justice has announced the fantastic news that it has won a legal challenge against the government. The group took action after it found out that Defra had approved gamebird licences that Wild Justice knew were unlawful. Land owners who want to release pheasants and partridges near a Special Protected Area (SPA) must […]
Industrial scale of pheasant shooting revealed
The industrial scale of rearing pheasants for the shooting industry has been uncovered by Who Owns England’s Guy Shrubsole in a series of FOI requests on the poultry registry made to APHA (the Animal and Plant Health Agency). Every year the shooting industry releases around 40 million Common Pheasants and 10 million Red-legged Partridges for […]
Stage 2 of Scotland’s Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill brings snare ban closer
Holyrood’s Rural Affairs and Islands Committee met on 7 February to discuss amendments to Scotland’s Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill. The Bill is at stage 2, and the committee voted on an amendment, put forward by MSP Gillian Martin, which will make snare use illegal. Seven MSPs voted for the amendment, with two voting against […]
Unelected Defra ministers won’t protect wildlife
Is our government fit to protect wildlife? We take a look at two men with key ministerial roles in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra): Richard Benyon (on the left in the image above) and Robbie Douglas-Miller (on the right). Defra has a number of tasks, perhaps the most important one being […]
The criminal justice system is failing wildlife
A new report once more highlights how Britain’s criminal justice system is failing animals, allowing people to hurt or kill wildlife with impunity. The report, compiled by Wildlife and Countryside Link, and containing information from different animal welfare charities, makes for damning reading. It shows that convictions in 2022 dropped by more than 40%, despite […]
Damning WhatsApp messages show how Tory MPs looked after their gun-wielding friends
The Covid Inquiry has been telling of how Britain’s most influential looked after their friends during the pandemic. And now more revelations have uncovered how politicians lobbied hard to ensure that hunting and shooting were exempted from Covid restrictions. Protect the Wild recently reported on comments made by former deputy cabinet secretary Helena MacNamara. She […]
Devon: Right to Roam shows how pheasant shoots abuse environment
Landowners and gamekeepers like to boast that they are instrumental in conserving England’s wildlife; that they are the true custodians of the land. But shocking photos, taken by a local Right to Roam group, show the havoc wreaked on land by pheasant shoots. South Devon Right to Roam took a walk on the Duke of […]
Scotland: Shooting industry fails to bully politicians over snares
It’s welcome news that the Scottish government has announced that it will push ahead with a change in the law that would fully ban snares. As we previously reported, the shooting industry had been lobbying hard so that it could continue using the torture devices. Gamekeepers and landowners had been trying to influence legislation in […]
New investigation reveals widespread use of rat poison to target raptors on Northumberland shooting estate
Hunt Investigation Team (HIT) has published an investigation into malicious practices by a Northumberland shooting estate. It showed that Allendale Estates has used a “notorious” rat poison to kill not just rats but raptors and other wildlife too. As a result, the bodies of dead animals were left “strewn” next to areas of public access […]
Covid-19 Inquiry: Government put more thought into hunting and shooting than supporting women
This week’s Covid Inquiry has highlighted the Tory government’s incompetence during the Covid pandemic. Former deputy cabinet secretary Helena MacNamara gave a witness statement arguing that Johnson and his “macho” and “toxic” team gave more thought to hunting and shooting interests than they did women’s issues. MacNamara’s 97-page statement, criticising the governing of the pandemic, […]
Shooting industry fails to criminalise Chris Packham
Hampshire Police has said that it won’t press charges against Chris Packham. The wildlife presenter’s supposed crime? Sniffing a goshawk chick on the BBC’s The One Show. Packham appeared on the programme back in August with three ringed chicks in the New Forest. He sniffed one to detect their “characteristic scent or perfume”. An individual […]
UK FIRST: Wales snare ban comes into force today
The Wales snare ban has finally come into force today, on 17 October 2023. The country is the first in the UK to implement such a ban. Scotland, too, is likely to be following in Wales’ footsteps. Meanwhile, England lags far behind both countries when it comes to the welfare of our wildlife. The Welsh […]
Court drops all wildlife crime charges against gamekeepers working for Prince William’s best friend
An employee of Hilborough Estate was found guilty of possessing an offensive weapon. The charge came after an undercover investigation into wildlife persecution at the estate. However, a number of other charges related to the “taking” of a goshawk were dropped. Dominic Green and William Richardson were at Norwich Magistrates’ Court on 17 October to […]
Snares: Scottish government must not be hoodwinked by gamekeepers
As the Scottish government considers a ban on the use of snares, land owners and gamekeepers have been making their pro-snare, pro-cruelty voices loudly heard. Recognising what an irretrievably appalling image snares have, they’re trying to rebrand the devices by giving them a friendlier name: humane cable restraints. A government consultation, asking the public for […]
The grouse shooting industry’s ‘illusion of truth’
“141 hen harrier chicks fledge as encouraging population growth recorded” (Natural England). “Record high for Hen harrier population in England” (Moorland Association). “Another record year for hen harriers as 141 chicks fledge in England” (BASC). “Population of Hen Harrier in England experiences boom” (Hexham Courant). “Hen harrier chick numbers grow for seventh year in a […]
The Royals must be called out for their obsession with wildlife slaughter
The Royal Family is probably the most well-known family in the world. Its members’ daily lives are scrutinised by the mainstream media, their hobbies photographed for the front page. Through their choices, the Windsors have huge power to influence the public. The royals, with all their elite privilege, have always been keen hunters. Queen Victoria […]
Men plead guilty to poaching grouse in North Yorkshire
Three men pleaded guilty in Teesside Magistrates Court on 7 August 2023, charged with a number of poaching offences. The men were searched by police on moorland near Lockwood Beck in the North York Moors National Park on 29 January 2023 after a tip-off. Cleveland Police said: “Officers immediately attended the area and detained the […]
The Welsh government could be subsidising the largest pheasant-rearing farm in the UK
Research by Animal Aid has found that the Welsh government may have subsidised the UK’s biggest pheasant-rearing farm. The pheasants are bred to be shot for ‘sport’. Bettws Hall game farm raises raises more than 1.7 million pheasant and partridge chicks a year, which it sells to shooting estates to be killed for ‘fun’. On […]
An eleven-year-old boy suffers life-changing injuries during a shoot
On 31 August an eleven-year-old boy was shot in a woodland in East Sussex. His life-changing injuries are a stark reminder of how dangerous the shooting industry can be. Sky News reported that: “During the incident, the boy suffered a serious, potentially life-changing wound to his hip and was airlifted to hospital in London, according […]
Punching a horse is atrocious, but so is murdering fox cubs
Most people reading Protect the Wild already know this, but it bears being said. The media circus around Sarah Moulds highlights Britain’s broken relationship with other animals. When Hertfordshire Hunt Saboteurs filmed Moulds attacking a horse in November 2021, the footage went far and wide. Not only across anti-hunting social media but across the headlines […]
Scottish Water looks set to ban grouse shooting on their land
The gory blood sport of grouse shooting is well underway in the UK. The rich are whipping out their rifles in delight, eager to murder defenceless birds. But it’s one blow after another for grouse shooters in Scotland, as Scottish Water has stated that it will issue no new leases on its estate. The company […]
Scottish Greens describe grouse shooting as ‘festival of violence’
The barbaric grouse shooting season began on 12 August, the ‘Inglorious 12th’. The Scottish Green Party has sent a clear message to gamekeepers and wealthy shooters that the blood sport is not welcome in Scotland. The Scottish Greens’ rural affairs minister, Ariane Burgess MSP, didn’t mince her words when she said: “There is nothing glorious […]
GOOD NEWS: Wales bans snares
Wales has banned snares. It is the first country in the UK to do so, and campaigners say the decision puts pressure on the rest of the Britain to follow suit. The Welsh Senedd unanimously agreed to pass the Agriculture (Wales) Bill on 27 June. The broad bill covers a range of measures related to […]
Cat found nearly ‘cut in two’ after a snare wrapped around his stomach
When Harry arrived back at his home after five days, his return should have delighted Marion Brownlie. Instead, she was shocked. Harry, a farm cat living with Brownlie, had a deep welt across his abdomen. And it was the result of a snare. Brownlie lives in St Cyrus, Aberdeenshire, on Scotland’s eastern coast. Harry had […]
Natural England’s Tony Juniper: overseeing the devastation of England’s biodiversity
The chair of Natural England (the government’s adviser for the natural environment in England) has hypocritically argued that England “is going to have to work much harder” if it wants to meet biodiversity targets. In his role, Tony Juniper is actively responsible for the loss of biodiversity. The Tories’ biodiversity targets have already been called […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Telegraph published claims foxes are declining because they aren’t hunted – but why?
On 9 May, the Telegraph reported on a letter that claimed foxes are facing a “catastrophic decline”. The cause, the letter claimed, is the hunting ban. The claim is unsurprisingly questionable given where it came from. As outlined in the Canary, the letter was made available exclusively to the Telegraph, and it named only one […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
Snared badger disappears leaving only pool of blood
Essex Police are investigating after blood was found by a snare. A member of the public reported finding a badger trapped in the device. But by the time police arrived, the creature had gone. As local paper the Daily Gazette reported, the incident occurred on 25 February and involved a dog-walker finding a badger struggling […]
National Trust bans grouse shooting from a Peak District estate
The National Trust has announced it’s banning grouse shooting from 1,600 acres of its land in the Peak District. And it comes after the charity voiced concerns over the shooting industry’s “management techniques”. On 3 March, Sheffield paper The Star reported that the National Trust had chosen not to renew its relationship with the shooting […]
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 […]
New review shows pheasants are still riddled with lead despite industry promises
A new study reveals that the shooting industry has done almost nothing to reduce lead in shotgun pellets. The finding comes half-way through an industry pledge to voluntarily reduce lead by 2025. The Conservation Evidence Journal published a review on 27 February led by Rhys Green of the Environmental Research Institute and Cambridge University. 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, […]
