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, […]
York: Fox fatally injured in illegal snare
The RSPCA is appealing for information following the discovery of a fox caught in a snare in York. And it’s a grim reminder that these “awful” devices are everywhere. A number of news reports said the young fox was discovered in a hedgerow near Rye Walk, in the north-west of the city. Following his discovery, […]
BREAKING: Wales one step closer to ban on snare use
The Welsh Senedd just announced it is carrying forwards a plan to prohibit the use of snares. On 27 January, the Welsh Senedd’s Economic, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee published its Stage 1 Report on its upcoming Agricultural Bill. The 116-page document covers many subjects related to the future of agricultural legislation in the nation. […]
DARTMOOR: camping ban and pheasant shooting
On Saturday 21 January, Protect the Wild joined more than 3,000 people marching in protest on Dartmoor after a pheasant-shooting millionaire took action to prevent wild camping. Hedge fund manager Alexander Darwall, who owns the 4,000-acre Blachford Estate on Dartmoor, brought the case against Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA). The high court ruled in his […]
The Scottish government’s advisory group just came out strongly for a snare ban
Snares are cruel and indiscriminate, raising “significant welfare concerns”, an advisory board to the Scottish government has just announced. As a result, the board is recommending a blanket snare ban in Scotland. On 9 December, the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC) published its position paper on using snares to trap wildlife. The evaluation was based […]
Red-listing and Red-listed species
We mention ‘Red-listing’ a great deal in news posts and blogs on Protect the Wild, especially when it comes to issues around the shooting industry. But what is it? Biodiversity loss is at last being recognised as having an absolutely critical impact on the survival of all life on the planet. Without animals, plants, and […]
The government has finally given a date to debate a ban on snares
Government ministers will debate a ban on snares following a successful petition. The news comes just weeks after the Welsh Assembly agreed to outlaw snares throughout Wales. The UK government recently announced that it will undertake a debate on criminalising free-running snares on 9 January 2023. It is the result of a petition on the […]
To survive we have to change the narrative
Headline statistics from the 2022 Biodiversity Conference (or COP15), which starts in Montreal today, are shocking. Over 1 million species are on the brink of extinction (an under-estimate as no-one knows how many species there actually are). Species are dying off at a frequency rate 1,000 times higher than before the arrival of humans. Wildlife […]
Protect the Wild End Shooting
A few weeks ago Keep the Ban became Protect the Wild. Our change is far more than just a re-brand. While foxes and enforcing the ban on foxhunting will always remain a key focus, with Protect the Wild we are expanding what we do. Part of that will see us bringing our drive, our commitment […]
Another satellite-tagged Hen Harrier ‘disappears’ in suspicious circumstances
Another satellite-tagged Hen Harrier ‘disappears’ in suspicious circumstances near a grouse moor. “It is believed the protected species could have been shot down or killed unlawfully.” Under the title “Officers team up with partners in search for missing hen harrier“, Durham Constabulary has posted a press release describing a multi-agency search for Sia, a satellite-tagged […]
RSPB Investigations Officer: Reflections on a poisoning
RSPB Investigations Officer: Reflections on a poisoning “Another issue that keeps rearing its head is the lack of any consequences for Stroud’s employers.” On 5 October 2022 gamekeeper Matthew Stroud was convicted of a long list of offences at Norwich Magistrates Court including killing protected birds – yet he escaped a prison sentence. Now Tom […]
RSPB’s review of lowland ‘gamebird’ shooting: “Bleak picture”
Has the RSPB finally run out of patience with the shooting industry? The country’s largest bird charity speaks out – but in an oddly low-key way. Tied for over a century to a Constitution enshrined in 1904 which insists it should be ‘neutral’ on shooting, the RSPB (by far the most important and most effective […]
Woodock shooting: MPs say Defra didn’t respond to government petition
Woodock shooting: MPs say Defra didn’t respond to government petition. Back in early July, the campaigning group Wild Justice (set up by Dr Mark Avery, Dr Ruth Tingay, and Chris Packham) launched a petition asking Defra (the government department responsible for the environment) to look at shortening the so-called’ season’ in which shooters are allowed […]
Two days with hunt sabs stopping grouse shoots
I spent two days with hunt sabs that stopped grouse shoots by Glen Black Each year since 2017, the Hunt Saboteurs Association has co-ordinated a national day of action against grouse shooting on 12 August. This is the so-called Glorious Twelfth, the opening day of the grouse shooting season. For 2022, though, the HSA […]
Grouse Moors and the ‘Licencing Lifeline’
Grouse Moors and the ‘Licencing Lifeline’ The grouse shooting industry is not a ‘glorious’ tradition. It is the slaughter of up to half a million grouse a year, the destruction of countless native predators in traps and snares, illegal raptor persecution and poison baits, and the burning of internationally-scarce habitats. All so that a few […]
Hen Harriers and greenwashing
Hen Harriers and greenwashing – the shooting industry avoids clamping down on persecution Thousands of pages have been written about Natural England’s ‘fix’ for the ongoing illegal persecution of Hen Harriers on grouse shooting moors, but as not everybody has read them it’s perhaps worth a quick recap in light of yet another attempt […]
Defra refusing Woodcock the protection they need
Defra and Woodcocks – government won’t protect Woodcock so we must The government recently responded to an online petition to ‘Limit the Shooting Season of Woodcock’ launched by Wild Justice (Mark Avery, Ruth Tingay, and Chris Packham). I’ve already blogged about this petition and my hesitancy to sign it but in case you don’t have […]
Royal Immunity from crime
Royal Immunity from crime…and those Sandringham Hen Harriers Two days ago (July 14th) The Guardian revealed the extent to which, since 1967, the Queen has legislated personal exemptions from more than 160 offences that the rest of us would be cautioned or arrested for. In ‘Revealed: Queen’s sweeping immunity from more than 160 laws’, Severin […]
Revealed: widespread burning of peatlands despite government ban
As an avid hiker, I sometimes stumble across scorched earth in the middle of nowhere: heather moorland deliberately burnt by landowners for grouse shooting. And as an animal rights activist, I’m acutely aware of the way the shooting industry uses vast swathes of land for hunting and shooting. So new statistics about the extent of […]
Mass grave of pheasants found on Duke of Somerset’s land
Protesters on the Duke of Somerset’s land stumbled across a mass grave packed with the corpses of pheasants this May. Protect the Wild joined hundreds of activists to take part in a mass trespass close to the duke’s Berry Pomeroy castle. The action was part of the wider Right To Roam campaign for greater access […]