Builder destroys three bat roosts fined £111
A Caerphilly-based builder has received a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £111 – roughly equivalent to a day’s pay for someone on the average UK wage – for illegally removing a roof at a property and destroying THREE separate bat roosts where protected Common Pipistrelles, Soprano Pipistrelles, and Whiskered Bats were […]
Ireland: Badgers, wildlife crime, and a dangerous legal precedent
(This post has been written in collaboration with Ruairí Ó Leocháin of ‘Stand with Badgers’. Please note Ruari’s ask at the bottom of the page.) Speaking on wildlife crime in the Irish Examiner last December, veteran environmentalist and Green Party Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan said “We are seeing […]
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 […]
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 […]
Holderness Hunt kills fox in front of monitors, police take ‘no further action’
* WARNING: There are graphic images included with this report. We’ve not used them to be gratuitous but to illustrate what we consider to be clear evidence of a wildlife crime * In March 2023 Hull Wildlife Protectors (HWP) photographed hounds from the Beverly-based Holderness Hunt tearing apart a fox while hunt staff looked on […]
‘Eyes in the Field’: Monitoring hunting in the North York Moors National Park
The Protecting the Wild Equipment Fund provides equipment like radios or cameras to individuals or groups who are working as ‘eyes in the field’ to tackle wildlife crime and protect wildlife. We have asked each recipient to explain what they do and how they are using the equipment we have provided – not only to […]
OPINION: The grouse shooting industry must be shut down
Over the last two days we’ve laid out some of the less than ‘glorious’ facts about the grouse shooting industry. In our first post, ‘There’s nothing ‘glorious’ about killing grouse‘, we outlined how the 12th of August (the ‘Inglorious 12th’) marks the start of a key ‘season’ for the shooting industry, and that over the […]
Defra cosies up to grouse shooting industry
Defra (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs), the government department “responsible for improving and protecting the environment”, has announced the appointment of a grouse moor owner to what it describes as a ‘key role’. Heather Hancock (pictured above), a former Food Standards Agency chair and former Chief Executive of the Yorkshire Dales National Park […]
Hunting ban laws across the UK
There are hunting laws across much of the UK. However, it is a devolved matter so the exact legislation differs between England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. First and foremost, it’s crucial to note that the criminal activity in hunting is the pursuit and not the killing of wildlife. While a dead creature may […]
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, […]
Police still appealing for information about gang that sets foxes on fire
A group of four men, thought to be between 18 and 20 years old, has been torturing foxes in Newham, east London. Police are calling to the public for any information about them. In the early hours of Monday 27 February, police were called to the scene after screaming was heard, initially thought to be […]
Stark images of a snared badger highlight the need to ban snares now
A badger was found caught in a snare on the outskirts of a town in Northamptonshire. And images of the creature reveal just how cruel the devices are. On 3 February, Northamptonshire Badger Group said on Facebook that it had spent five hours searching for an injured badger “through fields, brambles and thick hedges”. The […]
Police arrest two more in connection with Avon Vale Hunt video
Police have arrested two more people in connection with the Avon Vale Hunt video. Wiltshire Police said that it had arrested two people on suspicion of wildlife offences on 14 February. It said the man and woman, both 25, were suspected of “hunting a wild mammal with dogs, interfering with badger setts and causing unnecessary […]
BREAKING: Three members of the Avon Vale Hunt arrested
Wiltshire Police have arrested three men from the Avon Vale Hunt on the morning of 10 February following footage of the hunt involved in the dig out of two foxes. ITV News reporter Rupert Evelyn said on Twitter that Wiltshire Police arrested three men on 10 February following publication of footage appearing to show an […]
GOOD NEWS: Avon Vale Hunt bites the bullet
Following publication of video showing members of the Avon Vale Hunt digging out a fox, hunting’s governing body has ‘permanently expelled’ its key members. On 8 February, the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) and ITV News published mobile phone footage showing several members of the Avon Vale Hunt involved in the dig out of two foxes. […]
Avon Vale Hunt laughing as two foxes ‘dug out’ and hunted
Footage purportedly showing terriermen involved in digging out a fox was published by the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) and ITV News on 8 February. The video shows three men leaning into a freshly dug hole in a field, with one man pulling a terrier out. The video pans around to show hunt masters, staff and […]
A badger rescue story shows why snares must be outlawed immediately
A young badger was trapped for days and left struggling to escape from an illegal snare in Scotland. Images show a worker from a local animal hospice rescuing the creature. And now the woman that rescued her wants an end to the practice of snaring altogether. Scottish paper the Daily Record reported on 5 January […]
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, […]
Fear for pet as foxhounds tear through Cumbrian village
A dogwalker was left shaken and concerned for their pet as a ‘dangerously out of control’ pack of foxhounds ran towards them chasing a fox in the West Cumbrian village of Lamplugh, according to a report in Cumbria’s News and Star. The local resident, who didn’t want to give their name for fear of retribution, […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
What is mink hunting?
Mink Hunting: what is it and what happens on a mink hunt Mink hunting with hounds only began in an organised way after Otters became a protected species across England and Wales in 1978. Otter hunting has a centuries-long history in the UK but has always been a relatively minor pursuit when compared to deer, […]
Tougher sentencing for hare coursing introduced
Government introduces tougher sentencing and improved powers to tackle the cruel crime of chasing hares with dogs The government has announced today that tough new measures to tackle the crime of hare coursing (chasing hares with dogs) will come into immediate force. Anyone caught hare coursing will now face an unlimited fine and up to […]
New laws targetting hare coursers will come into effect from August
New laws targetting hare coursers will come into effect from 1st August, timed to start with the next hare coursing ‘season’. NEW OFFENCES, NEW PENALTIES The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act brought in new laws aimed at giving police greater powers to tackle hare coursing (a wildlife crime under the Hunting Act 2004) and […]
Hunting Office backlash continues…
Hunting Office backlash continues… …leading to an even more undemocratic rearranging of the deckchairs Fox hunting had always assumed it was built on solid foundations. Little wonder really. For hundreds of years the ‘nobility’ ran packs of hounds out of stately homes, killing foxes across land their families owned (or rented out to tenant farmers), […]
Gamekeeper Archie Watson charged with raptor persecution
Archie Watson: yet another gamekeeper charged with raptor persecution. Yet another gamekeeper has been charged with being a prolific raptor serial killer. Archie James Watson from Manningford Bruce in Pewsey (Wiltshire) faces six charges under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and three firearms offences and will be appearing before Swindon Magistrates Court on Wednesday, May […]
Eton and beagling
Daily Mail appears to reveal all about Eton schoolboys and illegal hunting. Yesterday the Daily Mail printed a headline to a ‘news report’ that in just one deliberately-triggering sentence took in privilege, its current obsession with ‘woke’ (it takes a special sort of person, think Clarkson or Botham perhaps, to be proud of an ability […]
