Dorset men jailed for mutilating wild animals
Two men have been imprisoned for torturing animals in Dorset. Kristen Cooper, 24, and Todd Cooper, 29, both from Hampshire, were sentenced at Southampton Crown Court on 19 January. Dorset Police investigated the two men, with assistance from their Hampshire colleagues. Police searched Kristen Cooper’s home in October 2022, seized his phone, and found incriminating […]
Jeremy Clarkson sponsors fox hunting fundraiser
Fox-hater Jeremy Clarkson is sponsoring a horse racing event that is raising funds for the criminal Heythrop Hunt. This Sunday 21 January the Cocklebarrow Races will take place in Gloucestershire. It is the Heythrop’s only point-to-point event of the year, and is a big money-maker. Not only will hunting fanatics be racing horses, they will […]
Adopt a hare
ADOPT A HARE TODAY Everyone knows what a Brown Hare looks like. But how many of us have actually seen one? During the late 1800s there were about four million Brown Hares in Britain, but populations have crashed by more than 80% during the past 100 years and in some parts of Britain the Brown […]
Post-Brexit government fails to protect nesting birds, rivers and hedgerows
As 2023 came to an end, rules that protected rivers and hedgerows expired. Now major charities are calling on the government to give basic protection to nature on farms. Until 31 December 2023, farmers were obliged to follow regulations, known as cross compliance, if they wanted to receive rural payments from the government. The cross […]
Wales has banned snares but animals are still dying in them
Wales became the first UK country to make snares illegal. But a woman from Cardiff has found a dead fox caught in one of the death traps on a Merthyr Tydfil common. Nation Cymru reported the discovery. Caroline Nightingale, who found the fox’s body on Gelligaer Common, said: “I’m a big animal lover and was […]
Tell Chesterfield FC not to host the Barlow Hunt
Chesterfield Football Club is due to host the notorious Barlow Hunt’s annual ball, a fundraiser for a hunt that has a string of violent incidents to its name and which has been caught numerous times hunting foxes and breaking the law. The SMH Group Stadium’s facilities will be hired out to the hunt on 27 […]
What did it take to convict huntsman Chris Woodward?
Last month Protect the Wild reported that the Wynnstay Hunt’s serial criminal former-huntsman Chris Woodward had been convicted of hunting a wild animal with dogs in Lower Wych, Wrexham, on 14 January 2023. Evidence for the conviction had come from Cheshire Borderland Monitors volunteers who had filmed Woodward galloping down a road after his hounds […]
Red squirrel suffers slow and painful death in unmonitored trap
Scotland’s Daily Record has published a photo of a trapped red squirrel, who had likely suffered a slow death from starvation and dehydration. The horrific image shows just how barbaric and torturous even supposedly ‘humane’ animal traps are if they are not regularly checked by the operator. Dog walker Paula McLachlan discovered the body of […]
Adopt a bird
ADOPT A BIRD TODAY Most of us love birds. The ones that visit our gardens, the ones that arrive in the summer, the ones we only see up a mountain or over a marsh. All of them. Yet somehow the shooting industry has managed to convince us that some birds – well, some birds just […]
Ten reasons why 2023 was a good year for wildlife
For those of us who love wildlife, it is easy to fall into despair when we read reports of foxes being killed and birds of prey being poisoned. Many of us will need a reminder that positive events happened in 2023! As the year comes to a close, we give ten reasons why this was […]
Kent Hounds’ terriermen who used superglue to treat dogs’ injuries banned from keeping animals
66-year-old Robert Mills and his son, 22-year-old Jack Mills, have pleaded guilty to two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal. Kent police, along with the RSPCA, raided their home in January 2023 and discovered dogs with horrific injuries. The men appeared in Folkestone Magistrates Court on 20 December. According to KentOnline, The men […]
GUILTY: Criminal hunter Chris Woodward convicted three times since July
A court has found the Wynnstay Hunt’s notorious ex-huntsman Chris Woodward guilty yet again. Woodward is a man racking up a long criminal record. Woodward denied the charge of hunting a wild animal with dogs in Lower Wych, Wrexham, on 14 January 2023. But it was the hard work of Cheshire (Borderland) Monitors volunteers that […]
Inside Protect the Wild: why did we create Protectors of the Wild?
Many organisations – from wildlife charities to the police – ask us to ‘report wildlife crime’ when we see it taking place. The idea is that all of us can become ‘eyes in the field’, watching for crime or illegal persecution and helping stop it. It’s a simple and potentially very empowering concept. The problem […]
Inside Protect the Wild: why write news articles?
At Protect the Wild, we don’t just campaign to end the hunting and shooting industries. We also keep our supporters informed with news articles. For the past two years, we have covered news on a range of topics, including the criminal acts of fox hunters; how the shooting industry is responsible for lethally poisoning birds […]
Hunter accused of six charges of animal cruelty
Sam Staniland, ex-huntsman for the Essex and Suffolk Hunt, was in court on Monday 18 December, accused of six charges under the Animal Welfare Act. The hunter pleaded not guilty to all six charges. He was accused of: Causing unnecessary suffering to a foxhound by failing to prevent the dog from fighting a fox on […]
The Secret Monitor: Without fear or favour?
Damaging stories from inside hunting, shooting, and the badger cull have been circulating for years. Everything from breaking the law to assaults or harassment of monitors and the public and a police force seemingly happy to ‘look the other way’. But there is always someone watching, always someone listening. The Secret Monitor. In their latest […]
Bird shooting and the Law
Bird shooting and the Law Under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 (the primary legislation which protects animals, plants and habitats in the UK) all wild birds are protected. In the UK no-one can simply go out armed and shoot whatever birds they want to. However, certain species of game birds (a term Protect the […]
Plants and the Law
Plants and the Law A wild plant is an uncultivated plant that grows as nature intended it to in the wild in England and Wales. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 the term ‘plant’ includes algae, lichens and fungi, mosses, liverworts and vascular plants. All wild plants in England and Wales are offered some […]
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 […]
The Secret Monitor: Partners in crime – who’s enabling the cruelty of stag hunting?
Damaging stories from inside hunting, shooting, and the badger cull have been circulating for years. Everything from breaking the law to assaults or harassment of monitors and the public and a police force seemingly happy to ‘look the other way’. But there is always someone watching, always someone listening. The Secret Monitor. In the sixth […]
Equipment Fund #11. Cheshire Independent Hunt Monitors – an ‘eye in the sky’ on Cheshire’s hunts
The Protecting the Wild Equipment Fund was set up in Summer 2023 to help put ‘eyes in the field‘ (and ‘eyes in the sky’!), supporting and empowering people to protect British wildlife. We use the fund to provide equipment like body cams, trail cams, night vision kit, and video cameras to monitors and activists working […]
WANTED: North Yorkshire Police searching for three members of Sinnington Hunt
North Yorkshire Police are appealing to the public for information about three members of the Sinnington Hunt. The men are accused of interfering with a badger sett which is illegal under the Protection of Badgers Act. The police asked: “Can you help with this wildlife crime investigation? We need to trace these three men following […]
The Secret Monitor: Curre and Llangibby Hunt and their sweary supporters
Damaging stories from inside hunting, shooting, and the badger cull have been circulating for years. Everything from breaking the law to assaults or harassment of monitors and the public and a police force seemingly happy to ‘look the other way’. But there is always someone watching, always someone listening. The Secret Monitor. In this post […]
Equipment Fund: Ten out of ten for our wonderful supporters!
We launched our Protecting the Wild Equipment Fund in July this year, and – thanks to our supporters – we’ve already been able to fund TEN groups working on the front line. That’s ’empowering people to protect British wildlife’ in action and we couldn’t be more grateful. In just a few short months our supporters […]
The Secret Monitor: Stag hunting not cruel enough? There’s always hind hunting…
[PLEASE NOTE we have included a short video clip in this post. It shows a running deer and hounds but it is NOT graphic and the hind is not caught. It is used solely as an example of the Quantock Stag Hounds breaking the Hunting Act 2004 by using more than two dogs to chase […]
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 […]
The King’s Speech: biodiversity and climate clearly not a priority.
King Charles III addressed Parliament this morning setting out the government’s policy priorities for the year ahead. Well-trailed in advance, the speech was expected “to put criminal justice “at the heart” of its plans”. Speaking ahead of the speech Rishi Sunak said: “I want everyone across the country to have the pride and peace of […]
Depraved hunt master throws fox to hounds as child watches
Serial offender Stuart Radbourne has been sentenced for throwing a fox to hounds as a child watched. The dogs tore the live fox to shreds on Christmas Eve in 2020, and the incident was filmed and shared with others. Radbourne, who was hunt master for the Avon Vale, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to […]
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 […]
The Secret Monitor. Want to trespass with a firearm on public land? Join a stag hunt…
Damaging stories from inside hunting, shooting, and the badger cull have been circulating for years, and there are always new ones waiting to be told. There is always someone watching, always someone listening. The Secret Monitor. In the third post of an occasional series, the Secret Monitor is in the west of England. Stag hunting […]
Ben Wallace and the Right’s doomed push for the ‘countryside’ vote
Ben Wallace, the belligerent and unloveable Conservative MP for Wyre and Preston North, is all over the media today after yet another attack on sabs and monitors. Writing in the increasingly hysterical Daily Telegraph, Wallace, Secretary of Defence until he resigned in August to ‘invest in the parts of life’ he claims to have neglected […]
The Secret Monitor: the depraved ‘supporters’ of the Quantock Stag Hounds
Damaging stories from inside hunting, shooting, and the badger cull have been circulating for years, and there are always new ones waiting to be told. There is always someone watching, always someone listening. The Secret Monitor. In the second post of an occasional series, the Secret Monitor is in the west of England. Stag hunting […]
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 […]
Buzzard shot in North York Moors National Park
The criminals at large in the North York Moors National Park – a region dominated by grouse shoots – have struck again, as a Buzzard was discovered “fighting for its life” on Daleside Road in Rosedale. X-rays revealed that the Buzzard had been shot, and the bird was transferred into the care of the renowned […]
Body Cams and the Law
Body cams and the Law Body cameras (or body cams) are portable surveillance units typically used to document personal interactions and protect the wearers should they need to defend themselves if arrested as they allow officials to look back at the captured footage for a highly accurate account of the events in question. Once almost […]
Gloucestershire Council must ban hunting on its land
Gloucestershire Council is the latest council to consider banning trail hunting on its land. The county is home to some of England’s most notorious hunts, including the Cotswold Hunt which made news headlines when it buried a fox alive in March 2023. The Heythrop Hunt also terrorises foxes in Gloucestershire. On 23 September 2023, Three […]
Protecting the Wild Eqipment Fund #6: Derbyshire Against The Cull
We set up the Protecting the Wild Equipment Fund earlier in the summer this year to help put ‘eyes in the field‘, empowering people to protect British wildlife. We set the fund up because we know that many people who monitor are largely unfunded volunteers and often have no umbrella organisation to support them. That […]
Protect the Wild – how supporters EMPOWER us!
Before I get into this, can I just say now please don’t let the first two paragraphs below put you off! This short post is written to let you know how grateful we at Protect the Wild are to you (our supporters, readers, and contributors) for helping us feel less powerless and more hopeful…and as […]
Heythrop Hunt hounds tear up a fox in front of hunt saboteurs
Three Counties Hunt Saboteurs caught the Heythrop Hunt tearing up a fox cub on 23 September. Gloucestershire Police says it is investigating, but it remains to be seen whether the force will take action. The Heythrop’s current huntsman is criminal hunter Chris Woodward. The sabs recalled the events of the day in their report on […]
The Secret Monitor: Dishing the dirt on stag hunting
Damaging stories from inside hunting, shooting, and the badger cull have been circulating for years. Everything from breaking the law to assaults or harassment of monitors and the public and a police force seemingly happy to ‘look the other way’. But there is always someone watching, always someone listening. The Secret Monitor. In the first […]
Protecting the Wild Equipment Fund #5: Shropshire Wildlife Monitors
The Protecting the Wild Equipment Fund was set up in summer 2023 to help put ‘eyes in the field‘, empowering people to protect British wildlife. We set the fund up because we know that many people who monitor are largely unfunded volunteers and often have no umbrella organisation to support them. That means they have […]
Stop the Mendip Farmers Hunt from parading this Boxing Day
Murdering foxes. Killing its own hounds. Blocking badger setts. Brutal attacks on hunt saboteurs. Traumatising domestic animals. Stealing monitors’ equipment. This is the criminal Mendip Farmers Hunt (MFH). Protect the Wild and Action Against Foxhunting are contacting councils in England and Wales to ask them to ban hunts from parading on their land on Boxing […]
Defra public consultation on hedgerows
The Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra – or ‘Deathra’ as it’s increasingly known as it piles misery on misery upon England’s badgers) is holding a public consultation on hedgerows. The short online questionnaire takes just minutes to fill out (though that of course depends on some extent to the length of answers […]
This is why Pewsey Parish Council shouldn’t permit a Boxing Day hunt parade for the Tedworth Hunt
The Tedworth Hunt is expected to hold its annual parade in Pewsey this Boxing Day. However, hunt saboteurs and monitors have repeatedly exposed the hunt as a perpetrator of anti-social and criminal acts. Does Pewsey Parish Council want local residents and the wider public to view it as a supporter of such behaviour? The Tedworth […]
North Yorkshire Council group likens hunting ban to Nazi Germany
An oversight committee for North Yorkshire Council has discussed banning hunts from council-owned land. Some campaigners were hopeful it would lead the council in the same direction as others in the country. However, hopes were dashed after the group said a ban would mirror “how Germany ended up in the 1930s”. Rich Maw, a Labour […]
Here’s why Chitterne Parish Council needs to ban the Royal Artillery Hunt from parading this Boxing Day
Every year fox hunters across the country gear up for their biggest PR exercise of the hunting season: the Boxing Day or New Year’s Day parade. So Protect the Wild has teamed up with Action Against Foxhunting to campaign for councils to ban hunts from parading on their land at the end of December. One […]
Grant Shapps is anti-hunting. Will he do the right thing and ban fox hunting on MoD land?
On 31 August, Grant Shapps was appointed as the new defence secretary. Protect the Wild is urging Shapps to use his power to ban hunting on Ministry of Defence (MoD) land. A number of major landowners, such as the National Trust, have already banned hunting from taking place on their land. They have acknowledged that […]
This is why Kirkbymoorside Town Council shouldn’t permit a Boxing Day parade for the Sinnington Hunt
The Sinnington Hunt is expected to hold its annual parade in Kirkbymoorside this Boxing Day. However, hunt saboteurs and monitors have repeatedly exposed the hunt as perpetrators of anti-social and criminal acts. Does Kirkbymoorside Town Council want local residents and the wider public to view it as a supporter of such behaviour? Anti-hunting activists have […]
We created a map of North Yorkshire showing what effect a council ban on hunting could have
A core committee of North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) will discuss a motion to ban hunting from council-owned land on 11 September. We’ve created a map to show how a ban might affect hunting in the county. Labour councillor Rich Maw originally proposed the motion for debate in July. However, the council failed to debate […]
The biggest wildlife genocide of our time is happening right now
It’s the start of September, which means that badgers are being mass-murdered as you read this. If you’re scrolling through this article just as the sun has gone down, badgers will be coming out of their setts in the countryside near you right now. At the same time, government-sanctioned shooters will be lined up, ready […]
Protecting the Wild Equipment Fund #3: Hull Wildlife Protectors
Protect the Wild is working hard to empower people to protect British wildlife. In the Spring we began building a unique information resource to help tackle wildlife crime and acts of criminality that we called ‘Protectors of the Wild‘. ‘Protectors’ has now expanded to 35 pages and answers about 400 FAQs on everything from laws […]
Sarah Moulds case shines a light on speciesism in the UK
Cottesmore Hunt rider Sarah Moulds was found not guilty on 25 August for punching and kicking her horse Bruce. Her defence argument, and the subsequent verdict, once again highlights the speciesism that is rampant in society. As I already covered in a recent article, speciesism is where someone sees one species as superior to others, […]
