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 […]
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 […]
Wild Bird Eggs and the Law
Wild Bird Eggs and the Law The passing of The Protection of Birds Act 1954 made it illegal to take or destroy an egg of any wild bird and an offence unless “authorised by a licence granted under section ten of this Act” to sell, offer for sale or have in their possession for sale […]
Royal Agricultural University: Sick stunt as fox corpse tied to car roof
Protect the Wild and the Daily Mail don’t often agree on matters concerning wildlife, but their headline on Feb 7th “Outrage after students at Britain’s top agricultural university strap dead fox to the roof of a car for charity rally” just about nails it. As the Mail explained, “Students at a prestigious university dubbed ‘Oxbridge […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Hunt supporters attack a man in his seventies using a catapult and ball bearing
A hunt monitor in his seventies has been attacked by South Dorset Hunt supporters. This is the second time in less than a month that a monitor has been targeted by followers of the hunt. Protect the Wild spoke to North Dorset Hunt Sabs, who said: “We were sabbing the South Dorset Hunt at Tadnoll, […]
Where is shooting vulnerable
Where is shooting vulnerable? While many of us have come together to ‘protect the wild’ bird shooting is purely selfish and serves no common good. We will work to counter the ‘conservation’ greenwashing the industry employs. It uses birds as live targets. That shouldn’t be allowed. Non-animal shooting is now available, replicating the so-called ‘thrill’ […]
Common Pheasant
Facts about Pheasant Scientific name: Phasianus colchicus Bird Family: Pheasants UK conservation status: Introduced (on the British Bird List as a ‘naturalised introduced species’) 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 […]
Banning Snares: a parliamentary debate in name only
On January 9th MPs gathered in a room in Westminster Hall to debate e-petition 600593, which as the 102,616 people who signed it will remember was a demand by Animal Aid that “The Government should prohibit the sale, use and manufacture of free-running snares under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, putting them in the […]
Podcast 02: Snares and trailing a new campaign
A short podcast by Charlie Moores about snares – recorded the day before he headed to London to listen to a pro-hunt and pro-shoot government ‘debate’ last year’s petition organised by Animal Aid that called for a ban on the use, sale, and manufacture of snares… “If you’re a certain age you may remember […]
Why are you opposed to lead shot?
Why is Protect the Wild opposed to lead shot? 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). Here in the UK, lead was banned from water pipes decades ago, from paint in 1992, and finally fully banned […]
Ending Bird Shooting – let’s talk about foxes
How do you persuade an audience that is primarily interested in fighting foxhunting to become as concerned about the bird shooting industry? Oddly enough (and as a lifelong birder I’m writing this through slightly gritted teeth as it were), it’s probably not by talking about birds… Last year Keep the Ban, which was built […]
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 […]
Why must the shooting industry have a ‘predator control exit strategy’?
Why must the shooting industry have a ‘predator control exit strategy’? The definition of an ‘exit strategy’ is quite simple. It’s a pre-planned means of leaving a current situation, either after a predetermined objective has been achieved or as a strategy to mitigate failure. It’s often said that “an organisation or individual without an exit […]
Does the shooting industry spread disease?
Does the shooting industry spread disease? Wild animals get get sick, of course, but intensively reared, stressed animals are especially susceptible to disease (as an aside it’s estimated that 73% of all the antibiotics used globally are given to farmed animals, leading to serious concerns of widespread antibiotic resistance). Shooting depends on rearing as many […]
Stink Pits
Stink Pits 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 and are pits or piles of dumped rotting mammal and bird carcasses which literally ‘stink’ and are used as bait […]
Why won’t you use the term ‘gamebird’?
Why won’t you use the term ‘gamebird’? Protect the Wild won’t use the term ‘gamebird’ because how we describe the living beings around us is hugely important. When it comes to our wildlife, we’ve all inherited a grubby pile of loaded, value-laden terms that have been handed down to us and that we now repeat […]
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 […]
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 […]
What is a bagged fox?
On 26 August 2022, ITV News published footage showing what appeared to be a ‘bagged fox’. The video showed a group of terriermen associated with the Seavington Hunt pulling a bag from a quad bike before dumping whatever is inside onto the ground. Huntsman Benedict Hood is then seen encouraging a nearby pack of foxhounds, […]
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 […]
Leighton Hall Estate Investigation
Leighton Hall Estate Investigation Written by Head of Content and pro-wildlife/anti-shooting campaigner Charlie Moores. In September 2022 Protect the Wild was sent gigabytes of video and photographs filmed by investigators who had visited pheasant pens on the Leighton Hall Estate in Lancashire. We had a rough idea of what to expect, as the investigators themselves […]
Shooting Estates to publish a register of all mammals they trap and snare
Shooting Estates must keep a public register of all mammals they trap and snare. Go straight to sign Every day tens of thousands of traps and snares are laid by gamekeepers on shooting estates. Countless foxes and other animals are being killed every day to protect shooting’s profits – yet there is no legal requirement […]
No ‘licencing lifeline’ for Grouse Moors
No ‘licencing lifeline’ for Grouse Moors Grouse shooting is not a ‘glorious’ tradition. It is about death and destruction: the slaughter of up to half a million grouse a year, the killing of countless native predators in traps and snares, illegal raptor persecution, and the burning of internationally-scarce habitats. All so that a few people […]
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 […]
Avian Flu: is the government serious about protecting wild birds?
Avian flu is spreading fast: Protect the Wild wonders whether the government is really serious about protecting wild birds, not just poultry. Avian Flu, or (HPAI) H5N1, is a highly contagious viral disease affecting the respiratory, digestive and/or nervous system of many species of birds. A disease originating in East Asia, Avian Flu infected chickens […]
Bird Shooting FAQ
Bird Shooting FAQs Why does Protect the Wild call bird shooting an industry? Why does Protect the Wild call bird shooting an industry? Learn More Is bird shooting ethical? Is bird shooting ethical? Learn More Is bird shooting a ‘sport’? Is bird shooting a ‘sport’? Learn More Why will Protect the Wild never be ‘neutral’ […]
Snares and the Shooting Industry
Snares and the Shooting Industry Think it’s just hunts that kill foxes? Meet the shooting industry… The estimated number of fox snares put out in England is between 62,823 and 188,283 depending on the month. Approximately 1.7 million animals are caught in snares across the UK every year. Most of these animals are killed by […]
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 […]
End Shooting
End Bird Shooting Protect the Wild wants to end bird shooting Bird shooting is: Catastrophic for animals – not just for the millions of birds killed by ‘sportsmen’ each year of course but also for the mammals that are snared and trapped in huge numbers on shooting estates. Terrible for us – because of the […]
Goshawk
Facts about the Goshawk Scientific name: Accipiter gentilis Bird Family: Kites, hawks, and eagles UK conservation status: Green At a glance Very scarce in Britain, females are the size of Buzzards. Breeds in large numbers in some European cities where they prey on pigeons and squirrels. Still widely persecuted on shooting estates here in the […]
Common Curlew
Facts about the Eurasian Curlew Scientific name: Numenius arquata Bird Family: Sandpipers, snipes and phalaropes UK conservation status: Red At a glance Once very familiar and widespread but now lost to many sites. One of UK’s most rapidly declining breeding birds showing 48% decline from 1995-2015. To save the Curlew we need to rewet and […]
Grey Partridge
Facts about Grey Partridge Scientific name: Perdix perdix Bird Family: Pheasants and partridges UK conservation status: Red At a glance UK resident, long-term breeding population decline. Rapid population crashes over such large areas point clearly to large-scale rather than local problems. Despite Red-listing in 2021, Grey Partridge can still be legally shot in England, Scotland […]
Red Grouse
Facts about Red Grouse Scientific name: Lagopus scotica Bird Family: Grouse UK conservation status: Green At a glance Endemic UK resident, living and breeding in the often harsh conditions of upland moorlands of Great Britain and Ireland Wild at all times, numbers are nevertheless maintained at artificially high levels by gamekeepers. Up to half a […]
Highlow Estate Shooting Investigation
Highlow Estate Shoot Investigation Who cares? Not the shooting industry. The shooting industry is all about selling birds to shooters to use as live targets on ‘days out’. It supports a cruel hobby that masquerades as a ‘sport’. Shooting profits by rearing flocks of near-tame birds to kill, promising its clients huge ‘bags’ (the disrespectful […]
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 […]
Birds still being released and shot despite Avian Flu crisis
Avian influenza Prevention Zone declared across Great Britain making it a legal requirement for all bird keepers to follow strict biosecurity measures. Chief veterinary officers from England, Scotland and Wales have declared an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) across Great Britain to prevent the disease spreading amongst poultry and captive birds in a belated attempt to control […]
Gamekeeper escapes jail after admitting intentionally killing birds of prey
Gamekeeper escapes jail after admitting intentionally killing birds of prey. Matthew Stroud, 46, of Weeting, appeared at Norwich Magistrates’ Court on 5th October 2022 and admitted to the intentional killing of six Common Buzzards and a single Northern Goshawk. Police found photos of the dead raptors, which he confessed later to killing, on his mobile […]
Half of world’s bird species in decline
One in eight bird species in danger of extinction warns State of the World’s Birds 2022 report Birdlife International, the global partnership of NGOs that works to conserve birds and their habitats, has released a follow-up to their 2018 State of Birds Report. In the latest report, State of the World’s Birds 2022, based on […]
Shocking footage released of pheasant shooting estate in Lancashire
Shocking footage of dead and dying birds filmed on shooting estate in Lancashire. In September 2022 investigators from the Hunt Investigation Team, in collaboration with Protect the Wild, captured undercover footage from pheasant pens at the Leighton Hall shooting estate in Carnforth, Lancashire. Seasoned investigators were shocked at what they found. Many young pheasants were […]
News
NEWS Breaking news on our work and issues affecting wildlife. We update our site regularly so check back here or subscribe to our newsletter. You can also follow us on our socials to keep up to date. Latest newsFoxShootingRaptor PersecutionBadgerDeerInvestigateCampaign Latest news Cat found nearly ‘cut in two’ after a snare wrapped around his stomach […]
Weasel facts
European Weasel Scientific name: Mustela nivalis At a glance Weasels are widespread throughout Britain and are probably our most numerous carnivore. They have virtually no legal protection and many are killed in traps by gamekeepers every year. Shooting probably ‘loses’ more pheasants every year to collisions with cars than they do to Weasels. One of […]
Rabbit facts
Facts about the European Rabbit Scientific name: Oryctolagus cuniculus At a glance Native to the Iberian Peninsula, rabbits were brought to the UK by Romans as pets and to eat. The arrival of myxomatosis in the UK in 1953 saw a staggering 99% death rate in rabbits. Rabbits are now so established in many ecosystems […]
Polecat facts
Facts about the European Polecat Scientific name: Mustela putorius At a glance A member of the mustelid family which includes Pine Marten, Weasel, Stoat, Badger, and Otter. Heavily persecuted, by 1915 the polecat had become extinct across much of Britain. Recovering population now increasingly meeting and interbreeding with closely-related feral Ferrets. A member of the […]
Fox facts
Facts about the Red Fox Scientific name: Vulpes vulpes At a glance The Red Fox has the largest natural distribution of any land mammal except human beings. The UK population is around 375,000, perhaps one-third are resident in our towns and cities. Thousands are snared every year to protect pheasants and grouse for shooting. One […]
Deer facts
Facts about Deer At a glance All six species of deer found in Britain have increased since the turn of the century. Deer have no natural predators in Britain – they have all been wiped out by ‘land managers’. Despite the Hunting Act 2004 deer are still being hunted and killed illegally. There are six […]
Cat facts
Facts about European Polecats Scientific name: Mustela putorius A member of the large mustelid family (which includes the Pine Marten, Weasels and Stoats, the Badger, and Otter) the European Polecat is one of the least-known UK mammals. A solitary animal, the polecat occupies a variety of habitats, from farmland to woodlands to coastal sand dunes, […]
Boar facts
Facts about the Wild Boar Scientific name: Sus scrofa At a glance Ancestor of the domestic pig. The wild boar was once widespread here but was wiped out by over-hunting by the 1300s. In the 1990s sightings of free-living boar became relatively common again. The Wild Boar (or Eurasian Wild Pig) is an omnivorous mammal […]