South Dorset Hunt monitors are targeted yet again as 17 tyres are slashed on Boxing Day
A few days ago, Protect the Wild wrote about how a monitor from Weymouth Animal Rights (WAR) was beaten up with an iron bar and left for dead. He was monitoring the South Dorset Hunt at the time. And now hunt monitors and saboteurs have been targeted once again. WAR woke up on Boxing Day […]
Bodycam video shows the moment a quad bike hits a hunt saboteur on Boxing Day
Hunt saboteurs say one of their members was hit by a quad bike on Boxing Day. It happened during a meet of the Eggesford Hunt. And the incident left him needing x-rays. Devon County Hunt Saboteurs (DCHS) said on 26 December that “tempers began to flare” during the Eggesford Hunt’s Boxing Day meet. This annual […]
Ten reasons why 2022 was a remarkable and historic year
As we reach the end of 2022, it’s a good time to look back on how far the movement against hunting has come in just 12 months. This list looks at some of the most high profile moments from the past year and is ordered chronologically. Many more moments that are no less important have […]
“They would have left him for dead.” Hunt monitors are calling for witnesses after a 77-year-old man is beaten with an iron bar
On 20 December, a monitor from Weymouth Animal Rights (WAR) was hospitalised after two masked-up men beat him round the head with a metal bar. WAR was monitoring the South Dorset Hunt, along with Mendip Hunt Sabs, when the brutal attack happened. They are asking for any witnesses to come forward. The attack took place […]
Why don’t you support grouse moor licencing?
Why doesn’t Protect the Wild support grouse moor licencing? The grouse shooting industry is not the ‘glorious’ tradition shooting lobbyists like to term it. 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 […]
BREAKING: Somerset County Council will NOT close roads for Boxing Day hunts
After more than 2000 letters protesting the planned closures of public roads to facilitate three Boxing Day hunt parades poured into their offices, Somerset County Council has today issued a statement apologising for ‘misunderstandings’ and confirmed to Protect the Wild that hunts will now be meeting on private roads. As Protect the Wild reported […]
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 […]
Two brothers were jailed after using a spade to ‘bludgeon’ a badger
A magistrate has handed two brothers jail terms for badger baiting. Both denied their criminal activities even as they were convicted. But details of the incident revealed a scene of abject horror. The trial, brought by the RSPCA, was originally held on 16 November. Evidence presented that day revealed that brothers Dale and Michael Rickerby […]
Somerset County Council using emergency powers to help Boxing Day hunt parades
SOMERSET COUNCIL USING EMERGENCY POWERSTO HELP BOXING DAY HUNT PARADES 16 Dec 2022 Rob Pownall. Founder, Protect the Wild : contact@protectthewild.org.uk Somerset County Council (SCC) is using powers meant for emergency roadworks to help Boxing Day hunt parades go ahead this year. The revelation broke on 14 December after Action Against Foxhunting (AAF) met with […]
Police ‘ASBO’ the Warwickshire Hunt for causing road chaos
Warwickshire Police has slapped the Warwickshire Hunt with an ‘ASBO’. It means the hunt is required to tell the police whenever it crosses a public road. And the local hunt saboteur group has welcomed the move. On 14 December, Warwickshire Rural Crime Team announced it had issued a Community Protection Notice (CPN) to the Warwickshire […]
Somerset County Council using emergency powers to help hunt parades
Somerset County Council (SCC) will use powers meant for emergency roadworks to help Boxing Day hunt parades go ahead this year. The revelation broke on 14 December after Action Against Foxhunting (AAF) met with SCC’s highways officer. AAF told Protect the Wild that the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt, Cotley Harriers and Seavington Foxhounds will […]
Phone messages incriminate Scottish hare coursers
Two men have been convicted of hare coursing in Forfar Sheriff Court, Scotland, after incriminating evidence was found on seized phones. Alexander Stewart, 35, and Jackie Stewart, 42, were arrested after a farmer recognised their vehicle in the area, and called police to the scene. When they arrived, the police saw Jackie, accompanied by a […]
Royal Artillery Hunt accused of more intimidation and lies after huntsman Charles Carter runs down saboteurs with his car
On 10 December, Moonraker Hunt Sabs shared footage of Charles Carter, huntsman for the Royal Artillery Hunt (RAH), running down two saboteurs with his car. The video was posted on Twitter shortly after the incident happened, and shows Carter deliberately turning his car around to drive into the sabs. One person can be seen laying […]
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 […]
Podcast 01: Charles Carter runs down Moonraker Hunt Sabs
[buzzsprout episode=’11855413′ player=’true’] A conversation with two members of Wiltshire’s Moonraker Hunt Sabs recorded just a few hours after they uploaded footage to Twitter which shows Charles Carter, Huntsman of the Royal Artillery Hunt, driving his car at them and knocking one of them to the ground. What follows is unverified in that I […]
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, […]
Damning text messages incriminate prominent fox hunter Ollie Finnegan
On 6 December 2022, Ollie Finnegan pleaded guilty to illegally hunting with dogs after WhatsApp messages, found on his phone, incriminated him. Finnegan was the huntsman for the Quorn Hunt on 7 January 2022. Police seized his phone after receiving reports of the Quorn illegally hunting a fox that day. ITV’s Rupert Evelyn attended court. […]
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 […]
Huntsman found not guilty after video dropped ‘at the eleventh hour’
Wrexham Magistrates’ Court found Chris Woodward not guilty of illegal hunting. Woodward, huntsman of the Wynnstay Hunt, was filmed behind a pack of hounds chasing a fox. But monitors say that the not guilty verdict came after the CPS dropped this evidence from the trial “at the eleventh hour”. Dropped and shocked Cheshire Monitors published […]
Hero left for dead by badger baiters receives award
A heroic former sab violently attacked by badger baiters last year has received an award for his work to protect badgers and other wildlife. Daniel, who at the time was colloquially known as ‘Puffer’, was knocked unconscious by a group of five badger baiters in Darcy Lever in April last year. He discovered the men […]
Hunts need to be held accountable as a hound is killed by a car
When it comes to hunting, it isn’t just foxes who are victims of this brutal bloodsport. On 29 November a Grove and Rufford Hunt (GRH) hound was hit and killed by a car on the A614. The pack was out of control, forcing cars and lorries to come to a standstill. Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs and […]
New government law could worsen record high wildlife crime levels
Record high wildlife crime levels could be worsened by new Government law, warn wildlife campaigners The warning comes from Wildlife and Countryside Link, the largest environment and wildlife coalition in England which brings together 67 organisations to use their strong joint voice for the protection of nature. The annual Wildlife Crime Report compiled by Wildlife […]
Shocking moment fox cowers on residential roof to escape hunt
In November 2022 shocking images of a terrified fox cowering on the roof of a house emerged on social media. The poor animal had been trying to escape out-of-control foxhounds belonging to the Melbreak Hunt, who had been illegally hunting (according to eyewitness reports) on National Trust owned-land at Whiteside, east of Loweswater. The Melbreak, […]
Fox Protection Survey
Survey on Fox Protection: 2021 Survation Poll backs greater fox protection… A poll conducted by Survation on behalf of Protect the Wild reveals that 63.6% of those surveyed think foxes should be given greater protection in the UK. The question was posed by anti-hunting organisation Protect the Wild in a survey about trail hunting, but […]
Cubbing Survey
Survey on Cubbing: 2023 9 in 10 people have never heard of ‘cubbing’… A new poll carried out on behalf of Protect the Wild asked respondents whether they’d heard of ‘cubbing’. Cubbing is the hunting industry’s practice of training young hounds by hunting fox cubs, and it begins in August. The poll, carried out by […]
Why do people still hunt foxes?
Why do people still hunt foxes? Fox hunting has been taking place for hundreds of years. Hunting with hounds, originated in England in the sixteenth century, and continued in a similar format until February 2005, when the 2004 Hunting Act came into place banning the activity in England and Wales. Hunts today still want the […]
Can I feed foxes in my garden?
Can I feed foxes in my garden? There is nothing in law to stop us from feeding foxes, but it does come with a degree of controversy – trying to balance our wish to ‘help’ while also not having an impact on the fox’s natural behaviour. Feeding foxes can alter that natural behaviour. If they […]
Why are foxes so loud at night?
Why are foxes so loud span at night? The noises you hear from foxes at night are just foxes communicating. Barks and screams are used to interact between foxes, and this becomes more common during mating season when the foxes are trying to attract a mate. If you find the noise worse in January, that’s […]
Is the fox population increasing in Britain?
Is the fox population increasing in Britain? Sadly, no! The number of foxes in urban areas is reported to have increased from 33,000 in 1995, to 150,000 in 2017. But despite this, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) survey, reports an overall decline in the species by 40% in the UK between 1995 and 2019. […]
What are terriermen?
What are terriermen? Terriermen are individuals hired by the hunt to carry out three main roles. To dig/flush out foxes that have gone underground to find safety. To block up fox dens and badger set holes to ensure foxes can’t go underground. To intimidate and harass monitors and saboteurs disrupting the hunt. Terriermen are often […]
What happens to hounds from previous seasons?
What happens to hounds from previous seasons? By the start of the autumn a new hunting season is just weeks away, and with it will come cubbing. Huntsmen will train young hounds by having them chase and kill fox cubs. But what of hounds from the previous season? The ones that had begun to slow, […]
What is lamping and is it illegal?
What is Lamping? Lamping is a loose term that covers a number of different activities. However, they all take place at night and they all result in the deaths of wildlife in the British countryside. Lamping is so-called because participants use lamps or spotlights to light up areas of the countryside at night to reveal […]
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 […]
Criminal Dwyryd Hunt master jailed – again.
Criminal Dwyryd Hunt master jailed – again. Snowdonia farmer David Thomas admitted breaching a disqualification order, causing unnecessary suffering to a hound by kicking it, and failing to look after twenty-nine dogs and two ferrets. On the 10th of October sheep farmer David William Lloyd Thomas, 56, of Cwm Bowydd Farm, Blaenau Ffestiniog, appeared […]
Thames Valley Police working with Kimblewick Hunt?
Thames Valley Police working with Kimblewick Hunt…surely the police aren’t really aligning with a law-breaking fox hunt? A few days ago the pro-hunting lobby group Countryside Alliance posted a short ‘news report’ in which they claimed that Thames Valley Police had started working with the notorious Kimblewick Hunt on what was termed a ‘community […]
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 […]
Report wildlife crime
REPORT WILDLIFE CRIME LET’S TAKE ACTION… Every year, across the entire United Kingdom, wildlife is being persecuted and subjected to unimaginable suffering due to illegal activities. Despite being a nation of self-proclaimed animal lovers’ wildlife criminals are illegally harming our precious wildlife. Foxes, badgers, deer, hares, mink, birds and many more species are the victims […]
Surveys
Surveys At Protect the Wild we believe it is crucial to understand the attitudes and opinions of the British public when it comes to issues of wildlife persecution. It’s why we regularly conduct surveys with Survation to learn about levels of awareness and what campaigns we need to take on to win hearts and minds. […]
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 […]
Remember Remember Campaign
REMEMBER REMEMBER This bonfire night ‘remember, remember’ wildlife too November 5th. We usually remember the bonfire, the fireworks, the Guy Fawkes effigy, the hot chocolate. Maybe even toffee apples. But while we’re (rather oddly) celebrating the failure of a plot to blow up Parliament more than four hundred years ago, what happens to the wildlife […]
Trail of Lies Campaign
TRAIL OF LIES CAMPAIGN Forestry England is responsible for managing and promoting the nation’s forests owned by the Government of the United Kingdom. However, what many people do not realise is that up until 2020 Forestry England gave permissions for ‘trail hunts’ to use its’ land. Hunts are frequently in the press for alleged trespass, […]
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 […]
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 Common 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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]