“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 […]
Mobile Phones and the Law
Mobile phones and the Law Mobile phones are ubiquitous and incredibly useful for RECORDING and REPORTING wildlife crime scenes for example. The law is very clear about using phones while driving a quad bike, for example, but phones are regularly seen at hunts – used both by sabs and monitors to photograph or record the […]
General Licences and the Law
General Licences and the Law Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (the primary legislation which protects animals, plants and habitats in the UK) all wild birds are protected. However there are a number of specific exemptions that allow some species of birds to be killed under what are known as Individual (or Specific) Licences (which […]
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 […]
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 […]
Lead Shot and the Law
Lead Shot and the Law Lead is a serious pollutant. Due to its high toxicity, most releases of lead into the environment are strictly regulated in Europe (e.g. see AMEC 2012). In the UK, lead was banned from water pipes decades ago, from paint in 1992, and finally fully banned from vehicle fuel in 2000. […]
Rabbits and the Law
Rabbits and the Law Rabbits are not native to the UK (they are from the Iberian Peninsula originally) and despite being here for around two thousand years, they are considered ‘pests’ in law. Since the Pest Act 1954 (which was put forward in response to huge agricultural losses) land occupiers – unless they can establish […]
The Hunting Act 2004
The Hunting Act 2004 In force since 18 February 2005, the Hunting Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which bans the hunting of most wild mammals (notably foxes, deer, hares and mink) with dogs in England and Wales. The Act does not cover the use of dogs in the […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill 2023
The Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act 2023 The Scottish Government’s Hunting with Dogs Bill was passed in January 2023. It gained Royal Assent in March 2023, and finally came into force on 3rd October 2023 when NatureScot clarified the conditions under which licences might be given to applicants “requiring more than two dogs to manage […]
Lamping and the Law
Lamping and the Law Lamping – or spotlighting – is a legal (though distasteful) activity typically using a spotlight, high power light or torch to dazzle and shoot animals at night. The light used is so bright that it will dazzle anything it shines on and the eyes of the animals reflect back even when […]
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 […]
Foxes and the Law
Foxes and the Law The Red Fox (the only fox species found in the UK) has the largest natural distribution of any land mammal except human beings. The UK population is around 375,000, and perhaps one-third are resident in our towns and cities. Data suggests that up to 50 per cent of the UK’s fox […]
Spring Traps and the Law
Spring traps and the Law Spring traps are most commonly used to kill (or ‘control’) mammals on shooting estates by breaking their backs. They consist of a trigger plate and some form of smooth jaws which snap across the animal making (in theory) a clean and instant kill. The Fenn Traps illustrated here are examples […]
Quad Bikes and the Law
Quad Bikes and the Law Terriermen and hunt supporters often drive quad bikes (four-wheeled all-terrain vehicles). They routinely break the law while doing so, and attempt to confuse monitors and sabs by claiming they are driving ‘agricultural ATVs’ which don’t need MOTs. This page is designed to help clarify the issues All quads used on […]
Airguns and the Law
Airguns and the Law It is illegal to sell air weapons and ammunition to anybody under 18. Owners of airguns MUST stop someone under 18 gaining unauthorised access to them and will face a fine if they fail in this duty. Air weapons (like firearms) should be stored in a lockable cupboard or a gun […]
Firearms and the Law
Firearms and the Law Firearms (in general terms a rifle, pistol or any other kind of smaller, handheld gun) are regulated in the UK by the Firearms Act 1968. The Policing and Crime Act 2017 inserted section 55A in to the 1968 Act, allowing the Secretary of State to issue guidance to chief officers of […]
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 […]
Map
CONTACT INFO Found an injured animal or seen an illegal hunt? Click on the map to view local phone numbers and tip-off lines for monitors and sabs, badger groups, wildlife rescues etc. (Many local groups are run by volunteers so may not respond immediately.) If you would like your contact details added or removed or […]
Are men with dogs persecuting foxes in east London?
On Boxing Day morning 2022, Karen pulled up in Coldharbour Lane car park, Rainham, overlooking the River Thames. She was visiting hear parents nearby at the time. As she walked through the car park, though, she felt something was off. A white Ford van was also parked up, the person next to it apparently letting […]
Cage Traps and the Law
Cage Traps and the Law Cage traps are widely used by gamekeepers on shooting estates to trap and hold (then later kill by shooting or clubbing) corvids (crows, including magpies). As distressing as finding wild birds trapped in a cage trap may be, their use is (currently) legal – but only under strict conditions and […]
Snares and the Law
Snares and the Law Snares are banned in most European countries, but free-running snares are still legal in England and Northern Ireland. Wales passed a ban in summer 2023, and in March 2024 the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill was passed into law in March 2024 making it “an offence to use a snare to trap […]
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, […]
Hare Coursing and the Law
Hare Coursing and the Law Hare coursing is an illegal activity banned (along with hare hunting) by the Hunting Act 2004, which made it an offence for an individual to: participate in a hare coursing event; attend a hare coursing event; knowingly facilitate a hare coursing event; permit land which belongs to them to be […]
Drones and the Law
Using drones and the Law The laws on drone use are fairly straightforward – but importantly they are slightly different for drones weighing under 250g (the weight of drones operated by most monitor and sabs groups will be 249g) and larger, commercial drones which weigh above 250g. NOTE that from 01 January 2026 all new […]
Deer and the Law
Deer and the Law There are six species of deer in the UK: native Red and Roe Deer; Fallow Deer (first brought to Britain during the Roman period but now considered to be naturalised), and invasive, non-native Sika, (Reeves’) Muntjac and Water Deer. Deer populations are probably higher now than ever before. They are an […]
Birds of prey and the Law
Birds of Prey and the Law Birds of prey are widely persecuted on shooting estates (and on some farms) but all species are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and most (excluding Common Buzzard, Kestrel, and Sparrowhawk) also come under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. This means that NO […]
Shooting near roads and rights of way and the Law
Shooting near roads and ways It can be intimidating to come across shooting activities near a road, footpath, or right of way but shooting is currently a legal activity and can legally take place in locations where the public have a right of access. There are laws governing shooting though, and it is a shoot […]
Poisoning/poisoned baits and the Law
Poisoning/poisoned baits and the Law The use of poison and poisoned baits to poison wild birds is illegal but is still taking place across the whole of the UK, particularly on some shooting estates and farms. Poisoning is silent compared with shooting and also less labour-intensive – no need to wait around for a bird […]
Badgers and the Law
Badgers and the Law Badgers are protected in law by the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 (passed to consolidate law previously contained in the Badgers Act 1973, the Badgers Act 1991 and the Badgers (Further Protection) Act 1991) and so are their setts (setts include entrances, tunnels, and underground chambers). Licences may be granted by […]
Wild Bird Eggs and the Law
Wild Bird Eggs and the Law In 1954 the passing of The Protection of Birds Act 1954 made it illegal to ‘take or destroy’ an egg of any wild bird. Section 1(2)(b) of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 strengthened that, making it an offence in England and Wales to possess or have in one’s […]
Birds and the Law
Birds and the Law Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (the primary legislation which protects animals, plants and habitats in the UK) all wild birds are protected. A wild bird is defined as any bird of a species which is ordinarily resident in or is a visitor to the UK in a wild state (so, […]
Bats and the Law
Bats and the Law All bat species and their roosts are legally protected in the UK, by both domestic and international legislation including the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) – though as of 2023 the government is discussing removing the specific protection of all wildlife (including bats) currently provided by the EU’s Habitats […]
Nesting Birds, Nests and the Law
Nesting birds, Nests and the Law Under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 (WCA, the primary legislation which protects animals, plants and habitats in the UK) it is: ‘an offence intentionally to kill, injure or take any wild bird, or take or destroy their eggs or nest, or damage a nest, while that nest is […]
Protectors of the Wild
Protectors of the Wild 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 or the CRoW Act 2000 says, or if the snare or cage trap you’ve just found […]
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 […]
Cage Traps
Live-catch cages / Crow Traps Crow Traps Crow Traps are widely used by gamekeepers on shooting estates to trap and hold (then later kill by shooting or clubbing) corvids (crows, including magpies). As distressing as finding wild birds trapped in a cage trap may be, their use is legal – but only under strict conditions […]
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 […]
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 […]
Common Pheasant
Facts about Pheasant Scientific name: Phasianus colchicus Bird Family: Pheasants UK conservation status: Introduced At a glance A Eurasian species released here in huge numbers by the shooting industry. Up to 40 million pheasants are released every year to be shot for ‘sport’. In 2020 Defra added the Common Pheasant to Schedule 9 of the […]
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 […]
Why do you call bird shooting an industry?
Why do we call bird shooting an ‘industry’? Why does Protect the Wild call the ‘bird shooting industry’ (a blanket term for shooting estates, shooting syndicates, shooting lobbyists, gun and ammunition manufacturers and suppliers etc) an ‘industry’ exactly? Because that’s exactly what it is – an industry. And it’s huge. We all need to move […]
What is the poison bendiocarb?
What is Bendiocarb? Few of us will know much (if anything) about bendiocarb, but it has cropped up many times in just the last few years in relation to illegal raptor poisoning. Firstly, what is it? Bendiocarb is “an acutely toxic carbamate insecticide used in public health and agriculture and is effective against a wide […]
What is raptor persecution?
What is raptor persecution? Put simply, raptor persecution is a wildlife crime against a bird of prey, their chicks, and/or their nest. It is one of the UK Wildlife Crime Priorities and the term includes poisoning, shooting, trapping, habitat destruction and nest destruction/disturbance. Most raptor persecution takes place on shooting estates: who else wants a […]
What are ‘Red-listed’ species?
What are ‘Red-listed’ species? Established in 1964, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global extinction risk status of animal, fungus and plant species. The Red List process has become a massive enterprise involving the IUCN Global […]
Why are there bird shooting ‘seasons’
Why are there bird shooting ‘seasons’? 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 […]
Why will you never be neutral on bird shooting?
Why won’t Protect the Wild ever be neutral on bird shooting? If we don’t speak out against the shooting industry, then no matter how much we might try to convince ourselves otherwise: we are supporting the killing of millions and millions of birds for ‘fun’, supporting the trapping and snaring of countless foxes and other […]
