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 do you call pheasants ‘non-native’?
Why do you call pheasants ‘non-native’? Non-native species are animals or plants that have been introduced (deliberately or accidentally) by human activity to an area in which they do not naturally occur. Across the world introduced ‘non-natives’ have upset ecoystems and caused huge problems and there are usually very strict controls in place to prevent […]
Hen Harrier nest attacked and chicks stamped to death
North Yorkshire Hen Harrier chicks found dead with broken bones after ‘deliberate’ attack The raptor persecution hot spot of North Yorkshire (a ‘black hole for raptors‘ according to the Yorkshire Post) is in the news again following a (belated) press release from the local police. In an area dominated by grouse moors and frequent reports […]
Pain, fear and hypothermia: the ‘agonising reality’ for animals caught in snares this winter
Temperatures have dropped significantly in the UK, with many areas seeing thick snow. In these current conditions, you would think that gamekeepers would be deterred from setting fox snares. Unfortunately, wildlife monitors and members of the public are still coming across them. If an animal is trapped in a snare in sub-zero temperatures, their pain […]
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 […]
Widllife coaliation warns the government is in danger of exterminating ‘iconic’ UK species through post-Brexit deregulations
A coalition of wildlife and environmental interest groups is calling on the government to “prevent gaps in the law” that could lead to disaster for animal and plant species throughout the UK. It comes as the UK takes part in the UN’s conference on biodiversity, COP15. And the coalition draws attention to the EU leaving […]
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 […]
Charlie Moores
Charlie Moores – Head of Content I’m Charlie. I’m a lifelong birder with a passion for all nature. I’ve been grumbling about the shooting industry as a blogger for decades, but starting working in a more constructive way when I launched Birders Against Wildlife Crime in 2014, and helped develop Hen Harrier Day soon after […]
Nidderdale: Raptor Poisoning Capital of UK
Nidderdale AONB in the Yorkshire Dales slammed by RSPB as the ‘bird of prey poisoning capital of Britain’. Is the message (belatedly) getting through that the shooting industry is responsible for trying to dictate to the rest of us how many birds of prey we should be seeing and where we should be seeing them? […]
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 […]
No public subsidy of shotgun licences
No public subsidy of shotgun licences Go straight to sign Did you know that we taxpayers subsidise the true cost of shotgun licences? Funding for police forces in England and Wales comes from us, the taxpayer. Forces have complained for years about underfunding. Yet one of the police’s duties is to administer shotgun licences. Under […]
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 […]
Badger Cull
The Badger Cull The government-sanctioned slaughter of a protected species Protect the Wild is totally opposed to the badger ‘cull’. Since it began as a ‘trial’ in 2013, badgers have been killed in huge numbers to protect the dairy industry from bovine TB – a disease of cattle. The government’s kill strategy is a failure […]
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 […]
Video Hub
ANIMATIONS Protect the Wild produces animations to support our work to end the shooting industry and to work for a proper ban on hunting. Uploaded to a range of social media platforms including YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook our animations and videos have now been watched around 35 MILLION times! And we attract a glittering array […]
Peregrine
Facts about the Peregrine Scientific name: Falco peregrinus Bird Family: Falcons UK conservation status: Green At a glance Famed for its 300kmh dive or ‘stoop’, talons extended, killing its prey instantly. Peregrines were once very scarce and heavily impacted by the use of the now banned pesticide DDT. Peregrines are still persecuted on grouse moors […]
Short-eared Owl
Facts about the Short-eared Owl Scientific name: Asio flammeus Bird Family: Owls UK conservation status: Amber At a glance Named after the tufts of feathers on their head which look a bit like mammalian ears. Hunts during the day and largely breeds in small numbers in rough grasslands and the uplands. Habitat loss and persecution […]
Common Buzzard
Facts about the Common Buzzard Scientific name: Buteo buteo Bird Family: Kites, hawks and eagles UK conservation status: Green At a glance Until recently quite scarce, now the UK’s commonest bird of prey. When soaring they hold their wings in a shallow V, often giving a mewing call. Shooting estates are increasingly calling for licences […]
White-tailed Eagle
Facts about the White-tailed Eagle Scientific name: Haliaeetus albicilla Bird Family: Kites, hawks and eagles UK conservation status: Amber At a glance UK’s largest bird of prey with a massive 2.5m wingspan. Largely feeding on fish, White-tails live most of the year near large bodies of open water. Thriving in Scotland thanks to reintroductions, but […]
Red Kite
Facts about the Red Kite Scientific name: Milvus milvus Bird Family: Kites, hawks and eagles UK conservation status: Green At a glance Compared with the buzzard, when soaring has a forked (rather than rounded) tail and flat (not raised) wings. Once confined to Wales, reintroductions of this beautiful bird of prey have seen numbers rebound […]
Marsh Harrier
Facts about the Marsh Harrier Scientific name: Circus aeruginosus Bird Family: Kites, hawks and eagles UK conservation status: Amber At a glance Nesting in reedbeds and marshes, this is the largest of the three harrier species breeding in Britain. Sexually dimorphic, females have distinctive yellowish heads and are sometimes known as ‘cream crowns’. Just 600 […]
Hen Harrier
Facts about the Hen Harrier Scientific name: Circus cyaneus Bird Family: Kites, hawks and eagles UK conservation status: Red At a glance Sexually dimorphic, the pale males are sometimes called ‘grey ghosts’, the brown females ‘ringtails’. UK’s declining breeding population now almost entirely confined to the uplands. One of the UK’s most persecuted birds of […]
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 […]
Golden Eagle
Facts about the Golden Eagle Scientific name: Aquila chrysaetos Bird Family:Kites, hawks and eagles UK conservation status: Green At a glance Large birds, Golden Eagles can reach speeds of 240kmh when diving on prey. Once widespread British resident now confined to Scotland. Heavily persecuted on grouse moors, the last breeding in England was in the […]
Great Cormorant
Facts about the Great Cormorant Scientific name: Phalacrocorax carbo Bird Family: Cormorants and shags UK conservation status: Green At a glance UK resident and winter visitor still recovering from very low numbers in the 1950-60s. Formerly exclusively a coastal breeder in the UK, the first inland colony was established in Essex in 1981. Natural England […]
Common Snipe
Facts about the Common Snipe Scientific name: Gallinago gallinago Bird Family: Sandpipers, snipes and phalaropes UK conservation status: Amber At a glance Once very familiar in damp meadows, snipes have been in steep decline since 1980s. As part of their courtship display snipes ‘drum’, a sound created by the vibration of their outer tail feathers. […]
Woodcock
Facts about the Woodcock Scientific name: Scolopax rusticola Bird Family: Sandpipers, snipes and phalaropes UK conservation status: Red At a glance UK resident and winter visitor, as its name suggests this ‘shorebird’ breeds in damp woodlands. Renowned for their ‘roding’ displays, males look remarkably like large bats as they fly back and forth over the […]
Golden Plover
Facts about the Golden Plover Scientific name: Pluvialis apricaria Bird Family: Plovers UK conservation status: Green At a glance Breeds mainly in the uplands, wintering on lowland farmland and coastal marshes. Likely to be particularly vulnerable to climate change because of their insect-based diet. Still on ‘quarry list’ – shooters reacted furiously to a 2016 […]
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 […]
Black Grouse
Facts about Black Grouse Scientific name: Tetrao tetrix Bird Family: Grouse UK conservation status: Red At a glance UK resident, long-term severe breeding population decline. Males ‘lek’, competing for females in complex and communal courtship displays. Despite Red-listing in 2021, Black Grouse can still be legally shot in England, Scotland and Wales. There are four […]
Ptarmigan
Facts about Ptarmigan Scientific name: Lagopus muta Bird Family: Grouse UK conservation status: Red At a glance UK resident, long-term breeding population decline. Ptarmigans moult three times a year to match the high-altitude landscape. Despite Red-listing in 2021, Ptarmigan can still be legally shot in England, Scotland and Wales between August and December. Closely related […]
Red Grouse
Facts about Red Grouse Scientific name: Lagopus lagopus Bird Family: Grouse UK conservation status: Amber At a glance 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 million […]
Duck
Facts about Ducks At a glance Many ducks are sexually dimporphic, males brightly-coloured for display and females often brown so they’re inconspicuous when nesting. Ducks are unusual in having an ‘eclipse’ plumage where bright body feathers are replaced by dowdy brown ones. Seven duck species can be shot in Britain, including the Red-listed Common Pochard.ease […]
Geese
Facts about Geese At a glance Britain is internationally-important for wintering geese. Thirteen species have been recorded, but just three species breed here regularly. Shooting lobbyists are constantly trying to increase the number of geese species that can be shot. Of the thirteen species of geese which have been recorded in Britain, several are rare […]
Protect the Wild: a new chapter
Protect the Wild: new chapter in the fight to end wildlife persecution I set up Keep the Ban as nothing more than a Facebook page with 0 followers in 2015. I was sickened and angered by the possibility of fox hunting becoming legal again and the ban on hunting wild mammals being overturned.Fast-forward over seven […]
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 […]
Birds
Birds – shot and persecuted For its relatively small size, a remarkably high number of bird species have been recorded in the UK. While some are still numerous, many are in decline. Enormous changes in land use, over-use of pesticides, pollution, and lax enforcement of planning and development legislation have taken a huge toll. The […]
Mountain Hare facts
Facts about the Mountain Hare Scientific name: Lepus timidus At a glance Our only native lagomorph (hares and rabbits) and strongly associated with heather moorland. Widely persecuted on grouse moors for carrying sheep ticks that can pass disease to Red Grouse. In 2020 the Scottish parliament voted to give Mountain Hares special protection. Distributed from […]
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 […]
FAQs
Protect the Wild FAQs What is Protect the Wild’s mission statement? Our mission statement is to empower people to protect British wildlife. We do that in different ways including: supporting front line groups; providing information through our Substack, animations, and social media; and campaigning hard for legislative change. Ultimately our aim is to end hunting, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Raptor Persecution Hilborough Estate
Raptor Persecution on the Hilborough Estate In April 2022, the Hunt Investigation Team (HIT) supported by Protect The Wild, documented illegal raptor persecution on the Hilborough Estate in Norfolk. The Hilborough Estate’s reputation has been built upon and protected by its royal connections and historical conservation credentials. The Van Cutsem family, friends of Princes Charles, […]
Undercover Investigations
Undercover Investigations A key element of our mission to expose wildlife criminals and end the persecution of wildlife in the British countryside is through supporting hard-hitting exposés. That’s why undercover investigations and covert operations are at the heart of what we do – and always will be. We ringfence funding to support ground-breaking operations uncovering […]
Our Campaigns
Our Campaigns Our campaigns will continue to push to end hunting and shooting in the UK and empower people to protect British wildlife. End Hunting We want a proper ban on all hunting with hounds End Hunting We want a proper ban on all hunting with hounds Learn More End Shooting We want to end […]
Badger Persecution
End Badger Persecution With their stripey faces, twinkling eyes, and starring roles in many children’s books and films, badgers are one of the most beloved of British mammals – but also one of the most persecuted. The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 makes it an offence to wilfully kill, injure, cruelly ill-treat, or take a badger […]
Undercover investigation exposes sick birds bred to be shot
Our latest undercover investigation exposes sick birds bred to be shot. The shooting industry profits by rearing flocks of near-tame birds to kill, promising its clients huge ‘bags’ (the disrespectful collective term they use rather than referring to individual birds) and charging them hundreds of pounds a day for the privilege of standing in a […]
