Chris Packham needs your help to get trail hunting banned
Chris Packham is calling on the public to raise a voice for nature by urging the Labour government to ban trail hunting. This is a type of hunting that is meant to serve as an alternative to chasing and killing wild animals. But as the wildlife TV presenter and conservationist points out, there is ample evidence […]
Chris Packham demands end to ‘appalling abuse of animals’ on I’m a Celeb
Chris Packham has once more called out the TV programme I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! for animal abuse. And he argues that as presenters of the show, Ant and Dec, have an ethical responsibility to stand up for nature. Packham says he has written a “raft of letters” to the show over […]
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 […]
Scotland snare ban: Join Chris Packham in making your voice heard
Chris Packham has joined animal rights charities to celebrate “a potential win for wildlife” as Scotland moves closer to banning snares. As we reported on 22 August, the Scottish government is asking for views on whether the use of snares should be “banned as part of new plans to protect vulnerable wildlife”. The consultation will […]
Chris Packham’s succesful libel case is a win for everyone
Chris Packham has won his libel case against Country Squire Magazine. However, the good news has come at the cost of Packham’s safety as the naturalist said he now lives with the constant threat of intimidation and violence. Packham’s case began on 2 May at the High Court in London. It accused editor Dominic Wightman, […]
Chris Packham’s fundraiser highlights how wildlife killers try to operate in secret
Chris Packham is taking legal action against hunting and shooting industry media platform Fieldsports Channel. And you can donate to help him pursue the case in the courts. Unknown persons have targetted Chris Packham in recent years with a series of unsavoury acts. Someone strung dead crows up on his gate, for example, just months […]
Chris Packham narrates powerful animation against hunting on MoD land
Protect the Wild have launched a new short animation ‘End Hunting on MoD (Ministry of Defence) Land’ featuring the voice of beloved naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham. The 45 second film is backed up with a petition demanding that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) stops issuing ‘trail hunting’ licences to hunts wanting to take advantage […]
Government fails Nature again, rejecting call for grouse shooting ban
The government has rejected a call from the Wild Justice team to ban driven grouse shooting. In a parliamentary petition, the Wild Justice founders said a ban was needed because the practice is “bad for people, the environment and wildlife.” In response, the government revealed that it has “no plans” to ban driven grouse shooting, […]
England’s most flagrant hunt excises all mention of foxes from its founding doc
The Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt (BSV) is arguably the poster child for fox hunting diehards in Britain. In a curious sign of the times as the trail hunting ban looms, it has removed all mentions of foxes from one of its founding documents. The BSV is a notorious hunt, accounting for almost 13% of […]
Listing the businesses that enable the Wynnstay Hunt
Based near Wrexham, the Wynnstay Hunt is one of the UK’s most lawbreaking hunts, regularly chasing and killing foxes. Many of its members and supporters have faced legal action, and the hunt is renowned for the violence of its staff and supporters towards monitors and sabs. Yet this notorious hunt is going out hunting several […]
Snares, hunts, and shoots: Billionaire duke’s vast estate no haven for wildlife
The Green Britain Foundation recently obtained undercover footage of a fox trapped in a snare on the Duke of Westminster’s estate in Cheshire. As the Mirror reported, activists who discovered and filmed the snared fox, released it. But they said many other snares were set in one wood alone on the 11,000 acre Eaton Estate. […]
Bolting foxes: Exposing the real face of hunting
Hunts across the country have held their opening meets in recent weeks as yet another fox hunting ‘season’ gets underway. To mark the season’s start, the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) released three videos – recorded by hunters themselves – that demonstrate the despicable practice of ‘bolting’. The main fox hunting season runs from the end […]
HUNTING BAN: Labour must learn from Scotland’s mistakes
It was a seemingly momentous victory when Scotland banned hunting with dogs. One year on, its legislation is failing wildlife. The Labour government has promised to properly ban hunting too – but it needs to learn from its neighbour’s mistakes. Campaigners described it as a “landmark moment” when, late in the evening on 24 January […]
Sabs film criminal terriermen digging fox out of badger sett
A video, exposing the Axe Vale Harriers, was filmed by Devon County Hunt Saboteurs and Mendip Hunt Saboteurs on 13 March 2024. It shows terriermen digging out a badger sett to get to a fox, who has hidden underground from the hunt.
SHOCKING MOVE: Labour expands badger cull?
Ahead of winning the recent general election, the Labour Party wooed nature-loving voters by vowing to “end the ineffective badger cull” in its manifesto. However, it appears the government is now considering expanding the cull, after just over one month in power. The badger cull, which has now been running for over a decade, has […]
See you at Action for Wildlife Day!
Protect the Wild is heading to the Peak District! On August 10th – just two days before the Inglorious 12th and the start of the grouse-killing season – both Rob and Charlie will be at Carsington Water in Derbyshire for an Action for Wildlife Day. Organised by Hen Harrier Action, the event is being held […]
#RestoreNatureNow march – 60000 of us heading in the same direction
On Saturday 22 June, 60,000 activists walked through London. All ages, all backgrounds, an almost unimaginably broad range of interests and concerns. Even a few years ago we might have seemed disparate, unconnected with each other, but for a glorious, precious few hours we united behind two simple messages: 1) our world is dying, we […]
Animal abuser King Charles becomes new patron of the RSPCA
The RSPCA is “immensely honoured” that King Charles has become its new patron. Protect the Wild argues that this man, who abuses animals, should never have such a role in an animal welfare charity. This article explores Charles’ bloodlust for killing mammals and birds, and details how his vast estates are shooting playgrounds. The RSPCA […]
GREAT NEWS! Yet another hunt is going…
The Pendle Forest and Craven Harriers, a hare hunt covering Lancashire and North Yorkshire and based at kennels at Coniston Hall near Skipton, are disbanding. They join a long list of hunts folding as landowners and the public turn more and more against them. The Hunt made the announcement on 12 March, saying that the […]
GOOD NEWS: RNLI rejects hunting money
The lifeboat charity RNLI has shown its integrity after it rejected money from a fox hunting fundraiser. Ireland’s Dungarvan Foxhounds’ annual Christmas charity event was due to raise funds for the Helvic and Dungarvan RNLI. The Foxhounds’ supporters club had also stated that the hunt’s New Year’s Eve meet would raise funds for the charity, […]
Smoke from burning grouse moors choke Sheffield
“This is the unspeakable face of driven grouse shooting saying ‘F**k the environment, public health, wildlife and you’. Underpinned by the criminal persecution of raptors and a cause of poor water quality and flooding this despicable industry needs to end. End of. “ The above is Chris Packham’s entirely understandable response on Twitter to the […]
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 […]
Hen Harrier ‘brood meddling’ slammed by Wild Justice
The campaign group Wild Justice (run by Dr Mark Avery, a former Director of Conservation at the RSPB, Dr Ruth Tingay, who set up and runs the highly-influential Raptor Persecution UK (RPUK) blog, and Chris Packham, the most popular conservationist in the whole of the UK) has just published Meddling on the Moors, a new […]
MoD respond to petition calling for end of hunting licences
Protect the Wild recently launched a campaign to ban so-called ‘trail hunting’ on Ministry of Defence (MoD) land, part of our wider determination to end hunting with dogs permanently and achieve a Proper Ban on Hunting. While most major landowners have seen through the ‘smokescreen’ of ‘trail hunting’, the MoD is still issuing licences that […]
Clearing away the ‘trail hunt’ smokescreen
The Trail Hunt Smokescreen Clearing away the ‘trail hunt’ smokescreen In 2004 the passing of the Hunting Act made fox hunting illegal. Since then hunts have claimed to be following artificial scent trails rather than deliberately hunting wild mammals. This is nothing but a lie. So-called ‘trail hunting’ didn’t exist before the passing of the […]
CAMPAIGN: End Hunting on MoD land
Yesterday Protect the Wild launched a new petition-based campaign and a new animation: End Hunting on MoD (Ministry of Defence) Land. Within two hours our social media posts had been viewed almost 50k times, and by midday this morning over 5000 people had already signed our petition to the MoD calling on them to stop […]
“The Shooting Industry: it’s not just hunts that kill foxes”
A fox trots through a quiet wood. Suddenly a gun blast tears the air. Pheasant alarm calls ring out. The fox runs as birds are shot out of the sky… Those are the opening few seconds of a new 90 second animation we’re about to launch. It’s produced for Protect the Wild by Ben Sinclair […]
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 […]
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 […]
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’ […]
Labour wants to eliminate the ‘trail hunting’ loophole if it gets into government
Labour says it will tighten the Hunting Act when it comes into government. The statement came after the party’s shadow minister for the armed forces said that he wants hunting “consigned to the history books”. On Boxing Day 2022, the Labour Party said it will “close the loopholes” that exist in the Hunting Act. Huffington […]
A new housing development is the final nail in the coffin of a once prestigious hunt
A developer has applied to build a 50-house estate on the Leicestershire-Warwickshire border. If permitted, it will usurp land previously owned by the Atherstone Hunt. And the news marks an epilogue to one of the most successful hunt saboteur campaigns in recent history. The Leicester Mercury reported on 24 December that Hollins Strategic Land LLP […]
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 trail hunting?
What is Trail Hunting? In 2004 the passing of the Hunting Act made fox hunting illegal. Since then hunts have claimed to be following artificial scent trails rather than deliberately hunting wild mammals. This is nothing but a lie. Trail hunting is a smokescreen used as a means to continue to illegally hunt wild foxes. […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Woodock shooting: MPs say Defra didn’t respond to government petition
Woodock shooting: MPs say Defra didn’t respond to government petition. Back in early July, the campaigning group Wild Justice (set up by Dr Mark Avery, Dr Ruth Tingay, and Chris Packham) launched a petition asking Defra (the government department responsible for the environment) to look at shortening the so-called’ season’ in which shooters are allowed […]
Defra refusing Woodcock the protection they need
Defra and Woodcocks – government won’t protect Woodcock so we must The government recently responded to an online petition to ‘Limit the Shooting Season of Woodcock’ launched by Wild Justice (Mark Avery, Ruth Tingay, and Chris Packham). I’ve already blogged about this petition and my hesitancy to sign it but in case you don’t have […]
Revealed: widespread burning of peatlands despite government ban
As an avid hiker, I sometimes stumble across scorched earth in the middle of nowhere: heather moorland deliberately burnt by landowners for grouse shooting. And as an animal rights activist, I’m acutely aware of the way the shooting industry uses vast swathes of land for hunting and shooting. So new statistics about the extent of […]
Mass grave of pheasants found on Duke of Somerset’s land
Protesters on the Duke of Somerset’s land stumbled across a mass grave packed with the corpses of pheasants this May. Protect the Wild joined hundreds of activists to take part in a mass trespass close to the duke’s Berry Pomeroy castle. The action was part of the wider Right To Roam campaign for greater access […]
