FROM PROTECT THE WILD—GUGA IS ON THE MENU STILL AFTER SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT WON’T TAKE IT OFF

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Scottish Government REFUSES to Ban Guga Hunt Here’s what happens next. DEVON DOCHERTY SEP 6 READ IN APP Last month, the campaign to end the Guga hunt achieved a truly momentous milestone: NatureScot rejected the 2026 Guga hunt licence, saving the lives of 2000 Gannets who call the island of Sula Sgeir their home. Some of those chicks will just be beginning to fledge the nest and take their first flights out over the ocean as I write this email - a lovely thought, and one that makes everything we fought for over the past year feel so incredibly worthwhile. But along with that wonderful news, I’ve got some bad news as well. NatureScot’s rejection only protects the Gannets for one year. While the hunt is still allowed in law, it could still be licensed in future years, and the Scottish Government just confirmed they do not intend to outlaw the Guga hunt. This is despite almost 6000 of you emailing the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs directly to ask making ending the Guga hunt a priority in the new Government’s upcoming programme of work. It’s also despite NatureScot’s latest scientific data showing that the Guga hunt is no longer sustainable and could hold back the recovery of Gannets for decades, on top of a coalition of animal welfare authorities concluding that the Guga hunt is not humane. Take action There is so much urgent evidence pointing to the need for the Guga hunt to be outlawed for good. That’s why it’s so shocking that we just received a response from Jim Fairlie, Minister for Agriculture, Marine, and the Islands saying the Govt is not going to ban it, and repeating the same stock statement they’ve been giving for almost a year. But there was something else in their response that really stood out to us. The Government acknowledges the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission’s conclusion that there is no humane method of killing the Gannets that would be possible on Sula Sgeir. That conclusion followed advice from the Humane Slaughter Association, while the Scottish SPCA has also strongly opposed the hunt on welfare grounds. Yet in the very next paragraph, we’re told that NatureScot sought advice from the hunters themselves, legal advisers and unnamed “specialist, external advisors”, before concluding that the proposed method of killing the chicks would not constitute an offence under animal welfare law. That raises some pretty big questions. Who were these external advisors? What advice did they give? What evidence was used to reach that conclusion? And, does it really take someone committing a criminal offence before we recognise that the suffering being inflicted on these birds is unacceptable? We’re going to be digging into that, so expect to hear more from us soon. It is good to see, however, the Government recognising the growing number of animal welfare organisations calling for a complete ban on the Guga hunt. This is no longer some niche campaign demand they can easily dismiss - the call for a ban is growing, and they know it. Our job now is to make that call louder, bring more organisations, MSPs and members of the public behind it, and build the political pressure until refusing to change the law is no longer a comfortable position for the Scottish Govt to hold. Guga hunt petition will be discussed next week Regardless of the Scottish Government’s pitiful refusal to act, there are still other routes to secure change. The Scottish Parliament petition to ban the Guga hunt is due to be discussed by the Petitions Committee on Thursday next week, putting this issue back in front of MSPs for the first time since the election. The petition - started by wildlife photographer Rachel Bigsby - was temporarily paused in March while a new Parliament was elected. But it’s now back open for signatures and currently sitting at 107,031. How high can we get that number before Thursday? SIGN THE PETITION The petition is coming back to a newly formed Committee, with fresh MSPs around the table and a fresh chance to move it forward. A huge surge in signatures before the meeting would send a powerful message: the public demand for this hunt to end has never been stronger. And remember: once this petition is eventually closed, you won’t be able to add your name. So while we still can, let’s make PE2202 the biggest petition the Scottish Parliament has ever seen - sign and share it today. Keep this campaign going - Become a Gannet Guardian The Scottish Government’s refusal to act is deeply frustrating, but I can promise you one thing: We will not take no for an answer. We will give this fight all we’ve got, for however long it takes, until this cruel hunt is history. But to do that, we need you fighting alongside us. SUPPORT US Become a Gannet Guardian by giving just a few pounds a month to help keep this campaign going until the Guga hunt is gone for good. As a thank you, we’ll send you your own mini Gannet as a reminder of the birds you’re helping to protect. SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

FROM MARRIANE WALKER —BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL—ABOUT VULTURES

View email in browser Your voice can lift vultures higher, John! Share these stories and inspire others to care like you From Egyptian Vultures crossing continents on migration to Griffon Vultures circling high above mountain landscapes, and Hooded Vultures quietly keeping towns and savannas clean, vultures can be found across much of the world. Vultures are nature’s clean-up crew, yet, sadly, they are among the most threatened groups of birds. It’s why on International Vulture Awareness Day, we wanted to spotlight the progress being made to protect these incredible species. We’re putting vultures on the map Effective conservation depends on knowing where and how to target our efforts. By tracking vulture movements and understanding the threats they face, we can identify the places where action is needed most. We’re protecting the most important areas for vultures Drawing on decades of experience, we are working with our Partners around the world to safeguard vital places for vultures to feed, nest, roost and soar. This will enable us to help reverse their decline. Remember, your voice is the lift that can help reach more hearts and minds. Celebrate International Vulture Awareness Day by inspiring others, and together we can save the birds and nature we love. International Vulture Awareness Day also marks the start of something special. From 8–11 September, we’ll be bringing you closer to BirdLife’s General Partnership Meeting and Global Flyways Summit in Kenya. Throughout the week, my colleagues will keep you updated with key highlights that are all thanks to your support. Watch a personal message from our CEO, Martin Harper. Thank you for being with us. Warmest wishes, Mairianne Walker | BirdLife International Supporter Team Image credit in order of appearance: Egyptian vulture globally endangered species in flight by GGRIGOROV/Shutterstock.com Griffon Vulture by David Tomlinson Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Website You are receiving this email because you opted-in to hear from BirdLife International BirdLife International is a registered charity 1042125 Address: BirdLife International The David Attenborough Building Pembroke Street Cambridge CB2 3QZ UK For full details on how we collect, use and store your personal information see our Privacy Policy. update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. Copyright © 2026, All rights reserved.

FROM EMMA FOR THE LEAGUE OF CRUEL SPORTS

League-Against-Cruel-Sports Banner stating top 3 reasons to attend our AGM Dear John, With only two weeks to go until the 2026 AGM, here are the top 3 reasons why it’s worth joining us: 1. Hear from inspirational speakers The AGM is a chance to hear directly from the team at the League. You’ll also hear a message from Chris Packham and Nigel Palmer from the Badger Trust which will be shared exclusively at the meeting. 2. Have your say The AGM is your opportunity to share your views and help shape our priorities for the year ahead. To use your voice, you can complete your proxy vote ahead of the AGM here. A new motions process is also being launched, designed to make it easier for members to put forward motions in 2027 and have your ideas heard. 3. Hear what’s next on hunting You’ll hear an update on ‘What’s Next’ now that the hunting consultation has concluded, including how we’ll continue to push the Government to strengthen the Hunting Act. If you’d like to submit any questions ahead of the meeting, you can do that on this page of our website. I want to attend the AGM Please join us for the AGM on 19 September 2026 at 10:00am and make your voice heard. If you’ve already registered to attend, we can’t wait to see you there! We’re looking forward to bringing Members together to celebrate our partnership. Warm wishes, Signature Emma Slawinski  Chief Executive Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram League Against Cruel Sports New Sparling House, Holloway Hill, Godalming, GU7 1QZ www.league.org.uk Telephone: 01483 524 250 © 2026 League Against Cruel Sports Registered Charity in England & Wales (No.1095234) and Scotland (No.SC045533) You are receiving this League Against Cruel Sports email because it relates to your membership. Unsubscribe View this email in your browser. supporter

FROM PROTECT THE WILD—WHAT THE GAME INDUSTRY GETS UP WITH THEIR WASTE

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more “Straight in the bin” Disposal of live waste on a ‘game farm’ PROTECT THE WILD SEP 5 READ IN APP Over the past few months we have been publishing analysis of undercover footage obtained on so-called ‘game farms’ across England. We began by looking at the sheer scale of the shooting industry, then how adult birds (not every bird, but far too many) are sometimes treated, and the enormous numbers of eggs collected and washed - and in some cases dumped unlawfully in open-air trailers. Recently we looked at very young chicks being ‘sexed’ and sorted. But we didn’t explain why and what happens to the birds the industry doesn’t want… Sorting Sorting takes place when chicks are very young, and it has two functions on a farm where birds are being bred for the gun. The first is sexing - ie sorting males from females. The second is checking for weak or unhealthy birds. A breeding operation exists to produce eggs - and those eggs are laid only by females. A male is needed to fertilise them, but because farms typically rotate one male pheasant among eight females, only a small number are ever needed. The rest are, in the industry’s own accounting, surplus. While it depends on the individual farm’s requirements that year (and how Avian Flu has impacted imports of chicks from continental hatcheries), as many as half of every hatch on a so-called ‘game farm’ may be killed within hours of being born. Not for any reason connected to their health. They are killed because they are male, and a male pheasant will never lay an egg. ‘Unhealthy birds’ - ie birds that because of deformity or ill-health will not survive the rigours of egg production without costly intervention - won’t add to the farm’s bottom line so will be disposed of too. They won’t be treated, cared for, rehabilitated, or set carefully aside for something else - to use the words of one of the senior workers talking in the undercover footage we’ve posted below, they will be put “straight in the bin”. The method of disposal The question the industry would rather we didn’t ask: what happens to the chicks the farm doesn’t want? The typical method of ‘disposal’ is maceration. The chicks are dropped from trays, usually fully conscious and often with piles of other ‘waste’ like eggshells, into a high-speed mechanical shredder. They are literally ground up alive. We are saying ‘usually’ because undercover footage from one farm the investigative team visited suggested that it may leave the chicks to die in the trays after sorting: every chick thrown into the macerator was (as in the screenshot below) already dead. This practice was different from what was observed at other farms, but as we can’t be certain this is a regular practice, we are not naming the farm at this point. Typically, the shooting industry likes to disguise the actions they know the public will be incensed by with softer words: ‘processing’, ‘dispatch’, ‘culling’, and the like. But strip away the euphemisms and what remains is a machine being used to kill live animals at industrial speed within days of hatching, simply because those animals were worthless to the business that bred them. Become a Game Changer The law Maceration might sound like some sort of fringe practice dreamt up by rogue operators, or a historical anomaly. Far from it. It is current, and it is written into UK law. The Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015 (WATOK 2015) - which sounds like so much of the oxymoronic legislation that benefits the shooting industry - explicitly permits maceration, gas killing, or cervical dislocation as lawful ways to kill chicks under 72 hours old. In typically cold, remote words, it states that “The killing of surplus chicks…in hatchery waste must be as rapid as possible.” It’s also worth knowing that under UK law (and this advice was last updated in March 2026), a staff member working on a farm does not need a WATOK licence “to kill surplus chicks or embryos in hatchery waste” - in other words, the specific licences required to carry out animal slaughter under WATOK 2015 are not required if you’re a temporary or casual worker being employed on a ‘game farm’ for the summer and part of your role is going to be dumping live chicks into a machine that grinds them up. In-house training is all you need… At this point, it’s a fair question to ask how on earth a ‘game farm’ trains someone to work on the macerator anyway. Practice? Repetition? Just pick the person who doesn’t mind throwing helpless birds into a meat grinder? There really is no answer that reflects well on the industry or the people involved. ‘Humane’ does a lot of heavy lifting Shooting industry bodies will tell you maceration is ‘humane’ - ie ‘showing kindness, care, and sympathy toward people or animals’. Their loose interpretation of ‘humane’ totally ignores the fear and stress of the conveyor belt and the sorting facility, but it is used because (the industry will tell you) death is instantaneous. That claim rests entirely on the operator being properly trained, and the system functioning as intended, every time, on every bird, without exception. That’s the sort of ‘quality assurance guarantee’ that industrial-scale processing rarely earns. It is the sort of ‘quality assurance guarantee’ that unlawfully leaves a chick to die in a trailer full of broken eggshells, after all. Become a Game Changer The pattern, again Forget any noble concepts like ‘humane’ or ‘welfare’. This industry is not organised around the wellbeing of the birds it breeds. It is organised around egg output. Killing day-old chicks is where that logic leads. Maceration is a cost calculation, made by an industry whose business model depends on maximising eggs and minimising anything that doesn’t produce them. It is simply cheaper to destroy ‘unwanted’ chicks than integrate them into the system. The truth is that the chicks going into the macerator were never seen as animals to be cared for. They were a byproduct to be disposed of by whoever is at hand on the day. Living waste to be put ‘straight in the bin’… Video and images recorded by an undercover investigative team in 2025. We are working to END BIRD SHOOTING. This suffering has to stop. Please share this article. Share our socials. Follow us for updates. Become a Game Changer End Bird Shooting Over the coming months our campaign will look at the shooting industry at every level. We will highlight the suppliers — the farms, hatcheries, importers and breeders producing tens of millions of birds under conditions that would provoke public outcry if applied to any other animal. We will expose the providers — the estates and syndicates that take those factory-farmed birds and sell the experience of killing them as leisure. And we will look at the clients — the paying guns who are fully aware of the wildlife crime, the trapping of native predators, and the mass suffering involved, and who have decided that none of it is reason enough to stay away. This industry survives because suppliers supply, providers provide, and clients pay. We intend to examine them all. Join the movement. Become a Game Changer. We are at the beginning of something. Months of undercover work. Hundreds of hours of footage. Farms across the UK exposed. But we are only just getting started. Many of you have already become a Game Changer, standing with us as we take this fight forward, week by week, piece by piece, until the public, the media and the politicians can no longer look away. We are extremely grateful We are reaching a larger audience all the time, though, many of whom won’t know that Game Changers help us fund investigations, take on staff, and make us more effective. So we are going to repeat the call here - this is just the beginning, please be a part of it. Become a Game Changer SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

FROM PLANTLIFE—NATURE NEEDS US

View this email in your browser Donate Join Shop Hi John, What would our world be without wildflowers in our meadows, fungi in our woodlands or the plants that support all life around us? Wild plants and fungi are the foundation of healthy ecosystems. They provide food and shelter for wildlife, help tackle climate change and create the beautiful landscapes we all love. Yet they're disappearing at an alarming rate. The good news is that people can make a difference. Every day, Plantlife members are helping to restore wildflower meadows, protect precious habitats, save threatened species and ensure that future generations can experience the joy of a world rich in nature. If you believe nature is worth protecting, we’d love you to join us. Join us Membership is more than a subscription. It's a way of standing up for the wild plants, fungi and places you care about. It's joining a community of people turning their love of nature into lasting impact. Together, we're proving that conservation works. As a special thank you, anyone who joins through this email will receive a free wildflower tea towel*. But the real reward is knowing you're helping create a future where wild plants, fungi and wildlife can thrive. All from just £5 a month. Nature needs more people on its side. Will you join us today? Become a member tea towel featuring pink orchids, plantain and other wildflowers As a member you'll get exclusive access to online talks, regular magazines, an ID guide and much more. Find out more here. Thank you for caring about nature. Together we can secure a world rich in wild plants and fungi. Best wishes Rebecca James Membership Team PS Don’t miss out! Show your support for nature today and receive a free wildflower tea towel* as a thank you. *This is a limited offer, join before midnight on Wednesday 9 September through the link in this email to claim your free tea towel. New members only. Follow Plantlife on: Instagram Instagram Facebook Facebook YouTube YouTube LinkedIn LinkedIn Website Website Copyright © Plantlife All rights reserved. Plantlife International is a charitable company limited by guarantee. Registered Charity in England and Wales (1059559) & Scotland, (SC038951) Registered Company in England and Wales (3166339) Registered Office: Brewery House,36 Milford Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 2AP, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1722 342730 enquiries@plantlife.org.uk www.plantlife.org.uk Plantlife respects your privacy. You can read more about how and why we use your personal data at www.plantlife.org.uk/privacy-notice Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

FROM PROTECT THE WILD—BAN THE SALE OF GLUE TRAPS

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more TAKE ACTION! Ban the sale of glue traps in England Sign our petition, telling the government to act urgently PROTECT THE WILD SEP 2 READ IN APP There’s a glaring loophole in England’s glue trap legislation. Since the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022 came into force in England in 2024, ordinary members of the public have been prohibited from using glue traps to catch rodents. Yet it remains legal for anyone to buy one from a shop or online. That makes no sense. If members of the public cannot legally use glue traps, they should not be able to buy them. Ban the sale of glue traps Glue traps cause severe and prolonged suffering. Animals caught on them can remain trapped for hours, panicking and struggling to escape. They may tear skin, injure limbs, become exhausted or dehydrated, and suffer extreme distress before they are eventually killed or die. Protect the Wild is opposed to the use of glue traps in all circumstances. We do not believe that deliberately immobilising a terrified animal on a sheet of adhesive can ever be considered humane, and we ultimately want to see their use ended completely. The Government argues that licensed professional operators may still use glue traps in limited circumstances to protect public health and safety. We strongly question whether such a cruel method is ever necessary when alternatives exist, but even under the Government’s current licensing regime, this provides no justification for unrestricted public sale. If licensed operators are permitted to use glue traps, they should obtain them through controlled professional suppliers. There is no credible reason for these devices to remain freely available to the general public. Sign the petition The Government also describes licensed use as being restricted to “exceptional circumstances”. Yet enforcement relies heavily on licence holders complying with conditions and on unlawful use being detected or reported. Animal rescuers continue to encounter animals caught on glue traps, and by the time misuse is discovered, the suffering has already happened. Removing glue traps from public sale would be a simple preventative step. It would make unlawful use harder, reduce confusion about their legal status and send a much clearer message about the cruelty of these devices. Other jurisdictions have already gone further. Wales has prohibited their use, while Scotland now prohibits their use, possession and supply. New Zealand has also introduced strict restrictions on their sale and use. England should not continue with a system where a product is illegal for most people to use but remains freely available for them to purchase. Our petition urges the Government to: ban the sale and supply of rodent glue traps to members of the public in England; end unrestricted high-street and online sales; restrict any remaining supply to appropriately authorised professional operators through controlled suppliers; review the continued licensed use of glue traps with the aim of ending their use entirely. The immediate demand is simple: if the public cannot legally use glue traps, the public should not be able to buy them. Please add your name to the petition, telling Defra to take urgent action. Every day the government delays, more animals will die a slow and agonising death. Sign the petition SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

ROAMERS—THE RIGHT TO ROAM WILL BE MAKERFIELD SOON

New prints available and an invite to come trespass with us in the Prime Minister's constituency In this newsletter: New prints available! Wild Service in Action Workshop 12th September Makerfield Mass Trespass 13th September Local Group updates Dear Roamers, Summer is giving way to autumn and, as Parliament returns from recess, we’re ready to hold our politicians to their word. In his first Commons statement as Prime Minister this week, Andy Burnham promised to give “people and places ownership and control” while back in June at the People’s History Museum he pledged the “biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen”. Localism and access reform are both about giving people a meaningful stake in where they live - but what does local control really amount to when the majority of people are shut out of the countryside on their own doorsteps? That is why, on Sunday the 13th of September, we are taking our campaign to the Prime Minister’s own constituency of Makerfield with a mass trespass. Despite Makerfield containing great swathes of Green Belt countryside, just 1% of the constituency has a right to roam. The trespass location will be revealed nearer to the date. To tell us you’re coming and be sent more details, sign up here on our Eventbrite. New Prints Up for Grabs! Our print shop is back with the events collection, three exclusive A3 artworks by artist, illustrator and Right to Roam co-founder Nick Hayes. Created especially for this collection and never seen anywhere else, they carry the folklore and joyful mischief of some of our most loved gatherings. We can't guarantee that these prints will be available again, so if one has caught your eye, now is the time. Every penny raised through the print shop goes directly towards funding our campaign to unlock the countryside for everyone. As a thank you for being part of our newsletter community, when you order a print you will also receive a little gift from us: a postcard and book mark set with our iconic campaign artwork. Simply add your chosen print, and the set into your basket and then enter the code ROAMFREE at checkout Wild Service In Action Workshop - 12th September Are you taking action for nature where you live, or nurturing an idea you'd love to bring to life? Join the us and friends of the campaign on Saturday 12th September for a one-day workshop created to encourage and connect the individuals and grassroots groups making real change for nature in their communities. Whether your Wild Service project is already putting down roots or it is only just beginning to stir, the day will offer practical tools, fresh inspiration and new connections to help it grow. The day will take place at Platt Fields Market Garden in Fallowfield, Manchester, a thriving community market garden and hub managed by the Manchester Urban Diggers (MUD). Alongside training and practical support from organisations including Wild Justice, Campaign for Commons and Lawyers for Nature, there will be plenty of time to meet others doing brilliant work for nature, explore the garden on a tour led by the MUD team and relax with some good food and live music Discover more about the workshop and book your free ticket here. When signing up you will be asked to complete a short registration form telling us a little about your current or planned wild service project. Local Group Updates South Devon Right to Roam are planning a walk and a swim on the Marristow Estate where ‘no swimming’ signs have appeared, on the 27th September. Get in touch if you’d like to join. Representatives from the group will also be at the Green Earth Awakening festival next week - if you’re planning to be there, drop them a line and say hi! There will be a stall with information and workshops. Northamptonshire has a new group in the process of forming - their first meet up will be on Tuesday 29th September at The White Hart pub in Great Houghton, Northampton at 7.30pm. If you can't make the meet up but are interested in joining the group or helping them, please get in touch at righttoroamnorthants@gmail.com That’s all from us for now - see you out there. Lewis and Jess, on behalf of the Right to Roam team x Can you help keep us roaming? The right to roam campaign is kept afloat by small donations from a few hundred monthly supporters. We are grateful for every single one of you. It’s what keeps the work going, but if we want to scale what’s needed, we need to grow that base. We currently have a target of 1,000 subscribers in order to make the campaign sustainable for the next year. Can you help? £5 / Month £10 / Month £15 / Month £20 / Month As an extra bonus for supporters, those who choose to become monthly paid supporters of the campaign will automatically enter into our ongoing art print giveaway as a thank you for helping sustain the movement long term. Visit our social accounts RIGHTTOROAM.ORG.UK This email was sent from this site. If you no longer wish to receive this email, change your email preferences here.

FROM PROTECT THE WILD—THE IN-GLORIOUS BLOODY TWELFTH

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more What the f**k is "glorious" about this?! PROTECT THE WILD AUG 12 READ IN APP Today marks the so-called “Glorious Twelfth” — the beginning of another grouse-shooting season. But there is nothing glorious about turning Britain’s moors into killing grounds. Nothing glorious about birds being driven towards waiting guns. And nothing glorious about landscapes being manipulated so that wealthy shooters can kill animals for entertainment. Grouse shooting does not exist in isolation. Its intensive management is associated with the persecution of protected birds of prey, the killing of other wildlife, the burning of precious peatland and the degradation of habitats that should belong to us all. Until now, our End Bird Shooting campaign has focused predominantly on the pheasant and partridge shooting industry. But that is only the beginning. Over time, we will expand our work to confront every form of bird shooting for so-called “sport” across the UK — including grouse shooting. We will create hard-hitting animations and videos, produce powerful campaigning content, fund undercover investigations and push the truth in front of millions of people. We will expose what happens on Britain’s shooting estates, challenge the powerful interests protecting the industry and build a movement capable of bringing it to an end. Our aim is clear: to make grouse shooting socially toxic, politically indefensible and an industry with no future. You can help fund this work by purchasing one of our bird of prey pin badges. Every purchase helps us reach more people, reveal more of what the shooting industry wants hidden and strengthen the campaign to end bird shooting. Wild birds are not targets. Our countryside is not a playground for people with guns. And killing animals for entertainment has no place in a compassionate society. Stand with Britain’s birds of prey. Stand against persecution. Help us end bird shooting. Bird of Prey Pin Badge SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

FROM PROTECT THE WILD—LOCAL AUTHORITIES & RODENTICIDES

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Councils don't even bother recording the mass killing of wildlife by rodenticides Freedom of Information requests reveal a black hole at the heart of publicly-funded rodent control industry. GLEN BLACK AUG 8 READ IN APP Composite image showing a colour-shifted photo of rodenticide being placed in an outdoor bait box overlayed with photos of a hedgehog and barn owl This is the fifth in a series of articles highlighting the need to ban rodenticides in the UK. Last month, we explored how the pest control industry - worth over $25bn globally - has been left to regulate itself by the UK government, with disastrous effects for non-target wildlife. You can read our previous articles here, here, here and here. In the coming weeks we will outline how other countries are miles ahead of the UK in terms of recognising the threat that rodenticides pose to both animal rights and our fragile ecosystems. Rodenticides are lethal, not only to rodents but to a wide variety of other ‘non-target species’ as well. However, despite their widespread use, there is comparatively little understanding of their wider impacts. Whilst pest controllers say they have data demonstrating the effectiveness of their methods, Protect the Wild has uncovered major data gaps that undermine their argument. Last month we reported on the ‘pest’ control industry’s lack of oversight. Freedom of information (FOI) requests by Protect the Wild to councils across the UK reveal that, whether the job was contracted out or conducted by an in-house team, few councils carried out oversight on the pest control work itself in the form of audits or compliance checks. Beyond this lack of oversight, there is also a black hole around the impact of this work on non-target species. As a result of another tranche of FOIs submitted by Protect the Wild to UK councils, it became clear that getting data on how many non-target species are affected by rodenticides as a result of ‘pest’ control would be impossible because no such data exists. There is no statutory requirement to collect or report how many non-target species are harmed by rodenticides, whilst the ‘pest’ control industry claim it’s impossible to know. See no evil, hear no evil Of the 384 councils that Protect the Wild contacted, 311 had responded at the time of writing. Across the responses from all these councils, a clear pattern stands out: most have no information on secondary rodenticide harm, and where such information exists, it only accounts for domestic dogs. Protect the Wild asked all councils the same set of questions, which focused on acquiring records for the “known injury or death of animals that are not rats or mice that have occurred or are suspected to have occurred as a result of rodent control operations”. A total of 161 councils stated that they did not hold any such information, whilst a further 139 said their records showed no such cases. Only nine councils held information on accidental or suspected non-target casualties, something this article will return to later. The remaining two refused to provide information. Although many councils simply said they didn’t hold the information, some offered a detail that put that lack of information into context. Cambridgeshire County Council, for example, said that: There are no contractual provisions, standing instructions or service specifications requiring pest control contractors to report non-target casualties to the Council. Dozens of councils gave variations of this statement, making it clear that data on the harm caused by rodenticides to non-target species simply doesn’t exist across much of the country. South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council provided an even clearer reason for this data gap when it said that: there is no legal requirement around recording this type of data. There is no statutory requirement for recording or reporting the impact of rodenticides on non-target species, even though we know that the number of animals hurt and killed by them is not zero. Surrey Heath Borough Council’s response highlighted one ‘pest’ control company’s reason for not voluntarily recording such information: I asked the question to the contractor and the response was: ‘This data is undeterminable and therefore records are not held’. In other words, it is ‘impossible’ to determine what non-target animals might be affected by rodenticides, so no attempt is made to do so. Impossible to ignore The issue of unintended and secondary poisoning cannot be dismissed. In fact, the ‘pest’ control industry itself recognises how significant this issue is. In 2015, the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use (CRRU), an industry body which acts as a regulator (in the absence of a proper statutory oversight body), created the Code of Best Practice as a condition of continued authorisation by the government’s Health and Safety Executive. However, the Code has proved ineffective. Despite this allegedly safer use of rodenticides, the rate of secondary poisoning in monitored species has not declined and in some cases has worsened. This was such a problem that even the industry couldn’t ignore it. As a result, by 2024, new guidance was introduced by CRRU and HSE that disallowed the use of SGARs “away from buildings”. This was driven by data showing that nearly 90% of barn owls had been exposed to Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs) despite the 2015 changes. This requirement should now be stated on the labelling of SGARs, and so can, in theory, be legally enforced. However, as Protect the Wild previously highlighted, the requirement is still problematic because ‘pest’ controllers are still allowed to place SGARs outdoors so long as they are set near a building. Cats and dogs Across 311 responses, FOIs revealed only nine councils with records of accidental or suspected non-target casualties: Cambridge City Council (Apr 2020) - One dog: Injured (secondary poisoning) via rodenticide block bait in a residential garden. East Riding of Yorkshire Council (Feb 2025) - One dog: Injured via bait placed in a burrow on an empty college site property. Eastleigh Borough Council (08/06/2020) - One dog: Released unharmed after exposure to Rodilon Soft Block in a bait station on a housing estate. Greenwich Borough Council (10/05/2023) - One grey squirrel: Dead on inspection in a spring-loaded rat trap (deer enclosure, animal park). Hounslow Borough Council (Jan 2025) - One dog: Unharmed following anticoagulant rat control on a housing estate. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (Date Unknown) - One dog: Died from rodenticide exposure in a public park. (This was stated by the attending vet, but the council said there was no baiting programme active in the park at the time). South Ribble Borough Council (07/02/2025) - One dog: Received vet treatment (no lasting injury) after consuming Brodifacoum from an unsecured garden bait station. Stroud District Council (May 2026) - One dog: Injured after escaping into a domestic garden and digging up rat bait in a burrow. Wandsworth Borough Council (2024) - Two dogs: Received precautionary treatment and recovered following rodenticide exposure on domestic premises. With the exception of Greenwich Borough Council’s grey squirrel incident, which was due to the related but different issue of spring traps, all recorded cases offered to us by councils involved domestic dogs. There is, of course, a very good reason for that, and the reason also underlines why we know so little about non-target animal harm by council-run or contracted ‘pest control’. Dogs have more of a voice-by-proxy than most other animals by virtue of their social situation. The closeness between dogs and humans, and their living in human households, means that a dog’s actions are more closely scrutinised than most other animals. As a result, they generate council records not because their owners care more, but because of the chain of events a poisoning incident has to pass through before it becomes a recorded complaint. The animal must be seen to fall ill; they must be taken to a vet who identifies anticoagulant poisoning; and crucially, the owner must be able to point to a specific location or object as the likely source. Dogs, typically kept within the boundaries of a house or else walked on leads/within eyesight, pass through all of those gates. When a dog becomes ill in a garden or after a walk, the owner has both the motivation and the means to make a complaint that sticks. This marks them out even from other common domestic animals such as cats, who often roam freely and unsupervised. Should a cat fall ill, identifying a specific location or object as the source of illness is much harder. Without that information, it becomes a lot more difficult to report an incident to the council. The difference between these two widely observed domestic animals makes clear why other creatures may go completely under the radar. It is also the reason why a ‘pest’ controller may say that such data is “undeterminable”. By accident or indifference This “undeterminable” quality isn’t a problem with the ‘pest’ control industry, however. In fact, it’s foundational to how the whole thing works. Rodenticides generally, and SGARs in particular, are designed to kill slowly. A rodent that has taken bait will continue behaving normally for several days before the anticoagulant effect becomes lethal. Because there is no immediate adverse reaction, the rodent doesn't associate the bait with their illness. This mechanism is desirable for ‘pest’ controllers, but it’s also the mechanism that invisibilises harm caused to non-target species. This is why an industry claim that non-target casualties are “undeterminable” isn’t just a neutral technical observation. It expresses the very structure of rodent control, and provides convenient cover for the ‘pest’ control industry. What makes this particularly striking is that the law itself provides a mechanism that should close this gap, yet councils are ignoring it. Even if a council outsources rodent management services to a contractor, it is still responsible for its legal obligations under Environmental Information Regulation (EIR) 3(2). This regulation establishes that what’s considered information held by a public body is not just what’s literally within its paper or digital records, but also any records held on its behalf. As such, a third-party ‘pest’ control company generating treatment logs and job sheets in the course of carrying out a council-commissioned job may be holding that information on the council's behalf, and the council is legally required to retrieve and disclose it if asked. Yet, as multiple councils explicitly told us, they make no requirement for contractors to provide such records. The consequences of this cut both ways. If contractor-held records don't exist, then the monitoring gap is even more complete than the councils' responses suggest, with no data existing anywhere about the impact of publicly-commissioned ‘pest control’ on wildlife. On the other hand, if contractors do hold such data but councils have made no arrangement to access them, that represents widespread failure to comply with the EIR. It means public authorities are commissioning work with known environmental impacts, and structuring the contractual relationship in a way that guarantees they will never know what those impacts are. Either way, the system has been structured by accident or indifference to remain ignorant. Our demand: An immediate end to rodenticide use Protect the Wild is demanding a complete and immediate ban on the use of rodenticide baits. Rodenticides are a threat to our waters: The effect of poor sewage management on the UK’s shorelines and rivers is well known. But rodenticides pose a serious threat too. Sewer baiting needs to be banned: The current protocols for sewer baiting are inadequate to prevent our seas and rivers from being polluted with rodenticide. The practice of sewer baiting needs to stop now. Rodenticides are killing non-target wildlife: Poison bait does not and cannot discriminate between target and non-target species. Killing protected wildlife is a crime. Rodenticides are causing unnecessary suffering: The slow, agonising death inflicted by SGARs – which cause internal bleeding over many days – may itself constitute an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which prohibits the causing of unnecessary suffering to animals. We are already obliged to do better: Existing legislation, as well as the pest control industry’s guidelines, require that preventative methods such as rodent proofing and prevention measures are exhausted before any rodenticide is used. The routine use of poison bait as a first resort by both water companies and local authorities is likely unlawful. Humane solutions are not complicated and there are companies out there who follow an ethical approach to managing wildlife in public areas, including sewers and drains. Check out Humane Wildlife Solutions, for example. As animal rights advocates, we urgently need to step up efforts to stop the silent killing of our wildlife by SGARs and other poisons. We need to make our case loudly and set out the alternatives clearly. The routine use of lethal poisons causes immeasurable suffering and it needs to stop. SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH—CLEAN UP IN THE TYNE—NURDLES FROM SHIPPING

View in browser Dear John, One billion plastic pellets – known as nurdles – have spilled from a cargo ship into the River Tyne [1]. It’s a race against time to limit the disaster. Thousands of volunteers, including our local action groups, are desperately trying to clean the beaches and reduce the impact on wildlife. But the official response has been far too slow, while every tide washes more into the sea, making it harder to clean up. Please tell the government to coordinate an emergency response. And hold companies accountable for every penny of environmental recovery. I'LL SIGN THE PETITION Nurdles stick around for decades and wreak havoc on sea life – fish, birds and other animals fatally mistake the bright plastic for food. We need urgent action to stop any more of these deadly plastic pellets escaping from the Tyne into the wider North Sea. The local volunteer response has been quick and inspiring. But communities shouldn't have to clean up corporate pollution. The government has promised to listen to the North. Local people have stepped up. Now it’s time for the government to do the same. Tell Andy Burnham to coordinate an emergency response and hold the companies accountable. I'LL SIGN THE PETITION Thanks, Sienna, Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Notes: [1] ‘There’s no nurdle fairy’: thousands mobilise to clean up plastic spillage in north-east England, The Guardian. About us Supporter promise Privacy policy Contact us DONATE This email was sent to spanishjohnedwards@gmail.com Want to change how you receive these emails? Unsubscribe from this list We send communications to our supporters who have opted in to receive emails from us. Friends of the Earth Limited. Reg. No. 01012357. Incorporated in England and Wales. Registered office: Friends of the Earth The Printworks 139 Clapham Road London, SW9 0HP United Kingdom Copyright © Friends of the Earth Limited

FROM PROTECT THE WILD—BBC TV TALK OF THE REFUSAL FOR TH GUGA KILLING TO CONTINUE

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more BBC Evening News Covers Guga Hunt Victory! Protect the Wild reacts to the landmark licence refusal on BBC Scotland. AUG 5 READ IN APP Monday was a truly historic day for Scotland’s Gannets. The Guga hunt licence was rejected for the first time ever, sparing 2000 Gannet chicks from a needless and brutal death in the name of tradition. This was a landmark moment for wildlife protection in Scotland, and we're delighted it received the national attention it deserved, featuring on both BBC Scotland's and STV's evening news programmes. Protect the Wild was invited to appear on both programmes to react to NatureScot's decision to reject the licence. BBC Scotland also aired an extended interview with our Scottish Campaigns Manager, Devon, which you can watch below. Speaking to BBC Scotland, we reflected on how emotional it was to hear that the Guga hunt would not be going ahead, and how much it meant to everyone who has campaigned so hard to protect these birds. We also highlighted how our campaign brought unprecedented public attention to the issue and pressured NatureScot into acting in the bests interest of wildlife rather than waving through the Guga hunt for yet another year. Over the course of the campaign so far, we built a petition of more than 250,000 signatures, released a viral animation, organised multiple protests, carried out creative campaign stunts that generated nationwide media coverage, and dedicated countless hours to research and meetings with NatureScot. We believe this significant new scrutiny caused NatureScot to take a far more precautionary approach to the licence. The unprecedented public interest and controversy surrounding the Guga hunt meant the decision was escalated to senior management, and new scientific evidence was commissioned rather than relying on assumptions rooted in the past. We also made clear that tradition, culture and heritage - the main argument we hear for the hunt continuing - cannot justify the continued killing of vulnerable seabird chicks. Finally, and most importantly, we warned that despite Monday's landmark victory, the fight is far from over. NatureScot made it very clear that the Guga hunters can apply again next year, and trust us, they will. Until the law is changed, we’ll have to fight this licence every single year and the Gannet chicks will be at risk of being beaten to death yet again. That’s why we’re now turning our attention to the Scottish Parliament and pressing for the Government to amend Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act to remove the clause allowing the Guga hunt. Help us get this over the finish line Yesterday, our incredible founder Rob walked (but mostly ran!) 16 kilometres in laps around the Scottish Parliament building dressed as a Gannet to call on Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act to be amended to outlaw the Guga hunt. We’re aiming to raise £16,000 for vital funds to power the next and final phase of the fight to end the Guga hunt for good. DONATE TO THE FUNDRAISER We're so close to hitting our target. If you can, please chip in a few quid and help us cross the finish line. SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

RIGHT TO ROAM NEWSLETTR—TELL THE STORY OF LACK OF ACCESS TO OUR RIVERBANKS

No right to access three quarters of England's riverbanks In this newsletter: –Our riverbank investigation –Wigan and Makerfield Events –Finnamore Wood –Local Group Updates Dear Roamers, Nearly three quarters of England’s riverbanks have no right of access according to our new analysis, revealed in the Guardian last weekend. We found that 71% of riverbanks across 89 English river catchments have no access land or public right of way on either bank within 100 metres of the water. It is a staggering finding and yet, somehow, an unsurprising one. Many rivers begin their life accessible, birthed in the mountains and moors where access land is more common. As estuaries become more urban they tend to offer greater access to the riverside. However, the middle courses are often forgotten and inaccessible. It’s like knowing someone in their youth and losing touch until their old age. Take the River Severn for example, whose headwaters begin high in the Welsh hills of Plynlimon, and end in the great estuary of the Bristol Channel. Yet through its middle catchment in Shropshire, it becomes one of England’s least accessible waterways, with 90% of its banks off limits. In other places, paths named after a river barely encounter the rivers whose name they carry – for example, most of the ‘The Test Way’ does not adjoin the famous chalk stream at all. Right to Roam's local group in South Devon experienced this phenomenon recently on the River Erme. Our trespass took us along the private paths of the Flete Estate (of Our Land fame), which for 5km on both sides of the river is reserved for the exclusive access of residents and guests of the estate. It is a beautiful section of a river in much need of help, but which for the most part is unseen even by those living in villages and towns in the same catchment. Does this story sound familiar? Have you been shut out from your local river? Drop us a reply and tell us your story. Details like that help us build the case for change. Our investigation lands on the freshly cleared desk of incoming DEFRA Secretary of State, Angela Eagle. Her arrival continues a decade-long trend at the department, where a new SoS has been appointed, on average, once every year. We hope she will recognise the scale of the inequality it represents and the inadequacy of the government’s flagship access policy of creating ‘nine new river walks’, which have so far failed to create any new access. She needn’t look far for ideas. Across Europe we see examples of a different approach. Sweden, Norway and Scotland all have a right to swim and paddle in most inland waters with exceptions made for privacy, wildlife and public safety. France has 1,286 officially monitored freshwater bathing sites. Meanwhile, in Paris, three free, supervised swimming areas have been opened on the Seine, with the water tested daily and sites closed temporarily when conditions make swimming unsafe. Berlin has 39 official bathing places where the city monitors conditions and gives swimmers information about where it is safe to enter. The city’s website states: “The Lageso wishes all Berliners and all guests of the city a pleasant and safe bathing and swimming season at the official bathing areas". In some Swiss cities, the rivers are so clean that people commute to work by swimming. Even in the densely populated Netherlands there are now 800 officially designated swimming locations, that are monitored and tested regularly. From the 1st of June next year Flanders will make all swimming legal unless there’s a good reason not to . Authorities there have taken the enlightened view that legalising swimming results in a stronger swimming culture, which in turn produces stronger and more capable swimmers: saving lives, and benefitting mental and physical health. As the Netherlands national swimming programme, Swim-ABC, website succinctly puts it: “Learning to swim is vital in our country with its abundance of water. We live near water, and we like to seek it out. Therefore, it is essential that children learn to swim at a young age.” While Europe evolves, we stagnate. England and Wales are increasingly looking like the last ones left on the bank while everyone else takes to water. Wigan & Makerfield: Save the Dates With the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, making his constituency of Makerfield a litmus test for the country, Right to Roam are paying a visit. –August 27th, The Old Courts, 7pm. Join Nadia, Guy, and the Right to Roam North West local group, for an evening of discussion about increasing land access, who owns the North West and what access reform could look like. –September 12th, Wigan Diggers’ Festival Right to Roam will be running a stall at this local festival, celebrating the legacy of the great Gerard Winstanley and his belief in the land as a common treasury for all... –September 13th, SAVE THE DATE With the team in town, there’s mischief to be found… save the date and we’ll release more details in due course! Finnamore Wood We recently reported on events unfolding at Finnamore Wood in Buckinghamshire, where a luxury property developer is enclosing a once-accessible woodland. The site was formerly home to a borstal but in the decades since it closed, local children and families have walked and played among the trees. In recent months, an eight-foot fence has been erected around the perimeter. Once again, the woodland has been turned into a fortress. Last week residents held a vigil to highlight the injustice and call on the local authorities to act. You can watch a moving short film about the day here. BBC News Jon spoke to the BBC about the legacy of the Kinder Mass Trespass and why it’s still unfinished business in England and Wales. Check the article out here. Local Groups Update Dorset Congrats to the Dorset group, who went out last weekend to liberate a Right of Way on Deadmoor Common from blockage – great work folks! Leicestershire The Leicestershire group are organising a swim trespass and picnic this Sunday, August 9th. If you’re interested, please contact Nadia on nadia@righttoroam.org.uk for more information. Kent Kent local group are looking to expand their pool of active members and organisers. They’re especially in need of someone who is interested in social media but would love to hear from any keen folk regardless of skill set. They welcome people from all over Kent and are hoping to gather some representation in the East or along the coast. Members meet regularly online and in person. They’d also love support in researching land ownership in Kent and planning actions that can include book clubs, socials, walks, film screenings, etc. If you’re interested in getting involved, please email righttoroamkent@gmail.com West Yorkshire On August 29th our West Yorkshire group are teaming up with long time friends of the campaign, Trash Free Trails, to give the hills a spruce after the Yorkshire 3 Peaks. “We will come together to give these majestic hills a good clean and do our bit of Wild Service. We want to have fun and engage with the public and really try to understand the psychology of littering. We are not aiming to lecture, blame or protest, but if we can talk to the public about rubbish and increased responsible access even better!" Sign up on the Trash Free Trails website here. For more details, drop the local group a line at: righttoroamwestyorkshire@gmail.com Lewis and Jon, on behalf of the Right to Roam team Can you help keep us roaming? The right to roam campaign is kept afloat by small donations from a few hundred monthly supporters. We are grateful for every single one of you. It’s what keeps the work going, but if we want to scale what’s needed, we need to grow that base. We currently have a target of 1,000 subscribers in order to make the campaign sustainable for the next year. Can you help? £5 / Month £10 / Month £15 / Month £20 / Month As an extra bonus for supporters, those who choose to become monthly paid supporters of the campaign will automatically enter into our ongoing art print giveaway as a thank you for helping sustain the movement long term. Visit our social accounts RIGHTTOROAM.ORG.UK This email was sent from this site. If you no longer wish to receive this email, change your email preferences here.

PLANTLIFE SAY MEADOWS ARE IMPORTANT

View this email in your browser Donate Join Shop Hi John, Wildflower meadows are really important (we all know this). These national treasures capture carbon, provide food and shelter for wildlife and protect land from flooding. Since 2013 we have led the creation and restoration of over 13,000 acres of wildflower meadow. But there’s so much more to do. By donating today, you can help make this a reality. Donate Meadows only thrive when farmers, land managers and communities have the tools and funding they need. Your donation helps us campaign for the policies and investment that enable meadow-friendly management – and helps us directly support those working on the ground. Supporting Farmers like Peter and Catherine In Wales alone, your support has helped us work with more than 1,200 farmers and landowners in the last three years. We worked with Peter and Catherine who have farmed Wern Ddu Uchaf for 34 years. In their own words: “I’ve learned a tremendous amount by working with Plantlife advisors, they’ve really supported us...Plantlife have really taught us a lot about the farm and how to farm it.” Farmers like Peter and Catherine are at the heart of meadow restoration work and their deep knowledge of the land helps us promote nature-friendly farming practices that both protect and restore biodiversity. By giving a gift today, you can help influence the way meadows are looked after, putting wild plants and fungi at the heart of land management. Donate today Thank you for your ongoing support. Jo Riggall Grassland Advocacy Officer PS If you've already given a gift to protect our national treasures, thank you so much. Tractor bails hay in a meadow This appeal represents Plantlife’s work to create a world rich in plants and fungi. Your gift will help support work from species recovery and habitat restoration to campaigning for policy change, and working in partnership with people. Your gift will be used in the most effective way possible to make a difference to nature. We can only continue our conservation work through the generosity of supporters like you. Follow Plantlife on: Instagram Instagram Facebook Facebook YouTube YouTube LinkedIn LinkedIn Website Website Copyright © Plantlife All rights reserved. Plantlife International is a charitable company limited by guarantee. Registered Charity in England and Wales (1059559) & Scotland, (SC038951) Registered Company in England and Wales (3166339) Registered Office: Brewery House,36 Milford Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 2AP, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1722 342730 enquiries@plantlife.org.uk www.plantlife.org.uk Plantlife respects your privacy. You can read more about how and why we use your personal data at www.plantlife.org.uk/privacy-notice Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. This email was sent to spanishjohnedwards@gmail.com why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences Plantlife · Brewery House · 36 Milford Street · Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 2AP · United Kingdom

FROM PROTECT THE WILD—IT’S A WIN—GUGA LICENCE REFUSED

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more WE DID IT! GUGA HUNT LICENCE REJECTED! 🎉 A major victory for compassion, for science and for common sense. DEVON DOCHERTY AUG 3 READ IN APP My eyes are brimming with tears as I send you this email to let you know the Guga hunt licence has officially been REJECTED by NatureScot and the hunt will not be going ahead this year. This means 2,000 baby Gannets have been saved from a brutal death of being snatched from their nests and beaten to death by the Guga hunters. Instead, they will get the chance to live. To learn to fly. To become the magnificent seabirds they were always meant to be. This is a historic day - the first time in history the Guga hunt licence has been rejected by NatureScot. A campaign that changed everything Since we got involved in this issue last year, Protect the Wild has been at the forefront of a high-profile campaign against this year’s licence application. Over the past year, together we’ve built the biggest campaign the Guga hunt has ever faced. More than 250,000 of you signed our petition to NatureScot - the largest public response the organisation has ever received on a licensing decision. We produced an animation narrated by Brian Cox that has been viewed more than 15 million times, staged protests at NatureScot’s headquarters and at events attended by its senior leadership, and kept the issue in the national spotlight through creative campaigning - including our founder Rob standing in the most contested seat of the Scottish Parliament election. Our campaign generated extensive national media coverage, including multiple primetime evening news slots, a front page cover on election day, and even a feature on Have I Got News For You, which led to a huge spike in Google searches about the Guga hunt. We commissioned polling that showed this campaign reflected the views of the wider Scottish public, not just a vocal minority. Behind the scenes, we spent countless hours meticulously researching the hunt. We obtained and published previously unseen footage appearing to show hunters frightening nesting Gannets in breach of their licence conditions, prompting widespread public outrage and calls for NatureScot to investigate. We submitted dozens of Freedom of Information requests that uncovered significant new evidence and exposed flaws in NatureScot's approach. We took our findings directly to NatureScot’s licensing team and senior leadership in a series of meetings, challenging the basis on which any licence could lawfully be granted. For decades, the Guga hunt continued with remarkably little scrutiny. That changed this year. We made sure NatureScot could no longer rely on outdated assumptions or incomplete evidence to justify the killing of Gannet chicks. Together, these efforts transformed the Guga hunt from a little-known local tradition into one of Scotland’s most closely scrutinised wildlife controversies, forcing NatureScot to commission its most comprehensive scientific assessment of the hunt to date and confront questions it had never properly answered before. I hope today's decision demonstrates the power of refusing to accept that change has to happen slowly. We were never prepared to stand by while thousands of Gannet chicks continued to be killed each year waiting for the law to change. We believed we had to fight on every front: challenging the licence in the short term while campaigning to change the law for good. And that’s exactly where this campaign goes next. But first, to everyone who stood with us - thank you. Every petition signature, every email, every share, every comment, every donation and every conversation helped shine a spotlight on the Guga hunt and hold NatureScot to account like never before. This victory belongs to every single one of you. A message from Rob Whilst today’s announcement is of course a huge victory for the Gannets, it is not a permanent one. Until the law itself is changed, the hunt could still come back. That’s why I will not just sit around and celebrate. The focus must now shift to the Scottish Parliament and the campaign to amend Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 so the legal exemption allowing Gannets to be taken from Sula Sgeir is removed once and for all. That is why tomorrow morning I will be walking 16 kilometres around the Scottish Parliament dressed as a Gannet: as a powerful reminder to those at the heart of Scottish politics that removing a single line from the law could protect these seabirds forever. 16 kilometres. £16,000 target. One mission: amend Section 16. Support my fundraising challenge If you’d like to chuck in a few pounds (or £16 if you’re feeling generous!) to the fundraiser I would be very appreciative. We’ve demonstrated what can be achieved with months of focused campaigning, now we need your help to push on and change the law for good. SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

FROM PROTECT THE WILD—SHOULD THEY BE WORRIED ABOUT THE GUGA HUNT

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Just 24 Hours Until the Final Guga Hunt Decision - Here's Why I'm Worried Just 12 people will decide the fate of 2,000 Gannets. DEVON DOCHERTY AUG 2 READ IN APP This is it. Our final chance to stop the Guga hunt going ahead this year. And with just 24 hours until NatureScot' decision, you’d think I’d be feeling more optimistic. After all, the latest scientific assessment shows the Guga hunt would decimate Sula Sgeir’s Gannet population, and both their licensing and Marine Ornithology teams have recommended the licence be refused. But in a recent statement announcing the recommendation to reject the licence, NatureScot said something concerning: “This is a recommendation only. The final decision will be made by our Board.” In other words, despite clear scientific evidence that the Guga hunt would undermine the integrity of the Special Protection Area and drive Sula Sgeir's Gannet colony into decline, 12 Board members still have the power to ignore that evidence and licence the hunt anyway. That’s why we need every single person reading this to send them an email right now. Email NatureScot's Board We need to make it impossible for them to ignore the science. Every email is another reminder that the public is watching, that this decision matters, and that anything less a licence refusal will be met with outrage. We’ve changed the wording of our email template to reflect this. So if you’ve been waiting to act, don’t wait any longer. Once you've filled in your details and clicked submit, an email will open in your inbox, addressed to every member of NatureScot's Board. Hit send. Then ask one other person to do the same. These final hours could make all the difference. Next time you hear from me, I will be announcing whether science, compassion and common sense have prevailed, or whether 2,000 Gannet chicks have been failed by the very organisation entrusted with protecting them. One final push. Let's finish what we started. Already sent an email? Leave a comment on NatureScot’s Facebook or Instagram. SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

FROM FRIENDS OF THE EARTH

View in browser Dear John, You just got an email from us with the subject 'Have we offended you?' We didn't mean to send you that – sorry! A technical error meant that this email was automatically sent to you. Our apologies for any confusion or worry that mistake caused. Here's the email we meant to sent: Many of us will be deeply affected by the wildfires in Suffolk and across Europe, which further make the case for action on climate change. After years of Friends of the Earth pressure, the UK government has committed to set stronger objectives to adapt to climate change. To keep us safer from extreme weather. That’ll be of little solace to those fleeing fires today. Or anyone bearing the brunt of back-to-back heatwaves; disabled people, care home residents, those in badly designed homes. But it's progress. And we still have a live legal case to make the government do more. Can you sign our petition to keep the pressure up too? Or share it if you've already added your name. I'LL SIGN THE PETITION For more rays of hope, keep reading... Breakthrough on illegal deforestation Last month the UK government announced it will finally implement new regulations to stop imports of commodities like palm oil, soy, cattle and cocoa produced from illegally deforested land. This is massive news. And I can honestly say this wouldn’t have happened without all your support. It’s a great step forward, but we need much higher government ambition to truly protect forests and the people who depend on them. And to hold companies to account for environmental harms and human rights abuses in their supply chains. So we can celebrate this success, but our campaign’s not over. And we’re going to need your continued support. I'LL SIGN THE PETITION Join us in October to end corporate harms to people and nature After that breakthrough, help us keep up the momentum. Join us in London to ask your MP for a new law to put people and planet over destructive corporate profit. We’ve joined with the Good Business Matters campaign to hold a mass lobby – where hundreds of us will meet our MPs in Parliament – to call for this law. Join us in Westminster on Wednesday 21 October to put a stop to human rights and environmental abuses in UK companies' supply chains. Sign up and we’ll give you all the info and support you need to show your MP why this matters to you. I'LL TAKE PART Heathrow expansion – how much do you know? There's a lot of competing info out there about whether a new runway at Heathrow airport is a good or bad thing. Fancy testing your own knowledge? Here's the first question: 1. Governments and private funds from 6 countries own a slice of the Heathrow pie – profiting directly from its expansion. Which one of these isn’t on that list? AUSTRALIA FRANCE SAUDI ARABIA UK Tens of thousands demand clean water The heat’s got many of us dreaming of taking a nice refreshing dip. But with hundreds falling sick after sewage spills on UK beaches, we’ll have to think twice [1][2]. Nearly 50,000 of you have signed our petition calling for clean water now – thank you! If you haven’t signed our petition yet, please do. I'LL SIGN THE PETITION Local action on – and in – the water Local action group York Friends of the Earth partnered with Surfers Against Sewage to highlight the increasing levels of pollution in the River Ouse, while private water companies make huge profits. Attendees paddle-boarded, kayaked, swam or marched along the River Ouse and dropped a banner from Skeldergate Bridge. The event gained local and national media attention. Swimmers and a canoeist in a river, a swimmer holds up a sign 'end sewage pollution' If you’d like to get involved where you live – for clean water or for any local issue that matters to you – use our group finder and get stuck in! FIND MY LOCAL GROUP Sustainable fashion with free shipping this weekend Now’s the time to stock up on summer fashion – from Friday to Sunday you can get free shipping at our Threads of the Earth shop. Look good while supporting our work. This isn’t fast fashion. Our products are made from all-natural materials using renewable energy and eco-friendly printing methods. And, once your item is worn out, you can send it back to be remade for credit in return. As they say, a T shirt is for life, not just the summer hols 🌞 TAKE ME TO THE SHOP A photo of someone wearing a 'save the planet' t shirt, and the text 'free post all weekend' Coming up, you’ll hear from us soon on how you can take action to clean up our water and how to say no to a third runway at Heathrow. Until then – stay safe and happy in the sun! Thanks, Aleanna Shaughnessy Supporter Relations Manager, Friends of the Earth NOTES: [1] Secret court documents reveal potential scale of illegal sewage spilling, BBC News [2] Ex-Southern Water boss among four charged over alleged plan to manipulate water tests, BBC News About us Supporter promise Privacy policy Contact us DONATE This email was sent to spanishjohnedwards@gmail.com Want to change how you receive these emails? Unsubscribe from this list We send communications to our supporters who have opted in to receive emails from us. Friends of the Earth Limited. Reg. No. 01012357. Incorporated in England and Wales. Registered office: Friends of the Earth The Printworks 139 Clapham Road London, SW9 0HP United Kingdom Copyright © Friends of the Earth Limited

IT”S BUGBYTES AGAIN FROM BUGLIFE

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) © Katie Waddington "If we and the rest of the back-boned animals were to disappear overnight, the rest of the world would get on pretty well. But if the invertebrates were to disappear, the world's ecosystems would collapse." ~ Sir David Attenborough ~

FROM PROTECT THE WILD—GUGA HUNT IS SET TO BE REFUSED

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Guga hunt licence set to be REFUSED The science says the hunt can't go ahead. DEVON DOCHERTY JUL 29 READ IN APP If you haven’t already seen the news on our social media, NatureScot has published the papers for its upcoming board meeting on 3 August, and its own licensing and marine ornithology experts have made a clear recommendation: The 2026 Guga hunt licence should be refused. I hesitate to celebrate too soon, but this almost certainly means the Guga hunt will not be going ahead this year. Let me explain what’s happened. NatureScot has carried out the most comprehensive scientific assessment of the Guga hunt ever undertaken. The results from that were published today, along with a summary by their licensing and marine ornithology team. Drawing on updated population modelling, the latest evidence on avian influenza and the legal tests required under the Habitats Regulations, they concluded a licence should not be given this year. In their assessment, the marine science experts considered three possible options: Grant the full licence to kill 2,000 gannets as requested by the hunters; Grant a reduced licence to kill 500 gannets; Refuse the licence. Officials rejected the first two options. By law, NatureScot cannot grant a licence for something that undermines the integrity of a protected site. And the science showed that a kill limit of 2,000 Gannet chicks would negatively affect the population over the long term and undermine the integrity of the Sula Sgeir Special Protection Area where the hunt takes place. Crucially, the papers reveal that even reducing the hunt to 500 birds would still leave "reasonable scientific doubt" that it would not adversely affect the site, which is home to internationally important seabird populations. The recommendation by NatureScot’s licensing and marine ornithology team concludes: “On the basis and rationale summarised above, the recommended option is to refuse the licence application this year.” This would be the first time NatureScot has refused a licence for the Guga hunt. You made this possible This announcement came on the very same day our petition to NatureScot surpassed 250,000 signatures. Sign the petition That is no coincidence. Over the past few months, together we’ve transformed the Guga hunt from a little-known event into one of Scotland’s biggest wildlife controversies. We’ve put NatureScot under unprecedented public scrutiny, forcing it to confront questions it had never properly answered, commission more robust scientific analysis and revisit long-held assumptions about the hunt. Every signature, every email, every donation, every protest, every share, like and comment helped make that happen. Thank you. But as the saying goes, it’s not over til it’s over. NatureScot’s Board will make the final decision this Monday, so we can’t be 100% sure the hunt won’t be going ahead til then. We’ll be observing that meeting and will let you know the outcome immediately. But it would be genuinely unthinkable for them to ignore their own science. Either way, our work wouldn’t stop there. We’ll immediately begin campaigning to abolish the outdated legal exemption that allows this hunt to take place at all. More on thats soon. One way or another, the days of the Guga hunt are numbered. Stay tuned, and thank you again to all the incredible people reading these posts, taking action, and helping us to abolish Britain’s last seabird hunt. We’re so close to stopping the Guga hunt but we need your help to get it over the line. Become a Gannet Guardian today with a monthly donation and help give this campaign the strength to keep going until the Guga hunt is ended for good. The next stage of this campaign is to secure a change in the law so that the Wildlife and Countryside Act no longer allows the Guga hunt to be licensed in the first place. Become a Gannet Guardian If you set up a recurring donation today, we’ll send you a Gannet plushie as a reminder of the birds you’re helping to protect :) SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

WILD JUSTICE—A COMPLETE UPDATE

Good morning, Today we bring you a few updates including a guest blog on our recent legal action about overgrazing on Dartmoor, news of a brilliant campaign to restore the incredible and valuable natural landscape of Dartmoor and also share some news about 'Wild Justice on Sea' and this year's 'Wild Summit'. Our Dartmoor grazing case – a deep dive into the judgement In March of this year, we finally received news that we had won our legal challenge, ruling that parts of Dartmoor had been mismanaged. We had argued that the Dartmoor Commoners’ Council (DCC) had failed to carry out its statutory legal duties to safeguard protected sites on Dartmoor, allowing overgrazing to impact wildlife and damage habitats. You can find out more about the initial stages of the case here and the court’s ruling here. Tony Whitehead, an environmental campaigner and a member of the Dartmoor Nature Alliance has written a brilliant in-depth overview of the judgement and what it means going forward for grazing on Dartmoor and for the wider governance of England’s common land. To read the blog, follow this link. Our legal challenge has put the issue of grazing on Dartmoor, and the urgent need for improved assessment and regulation of habitat management, squarely on the government’s agenda. Last month, you might have seen the whirlwind of media around the spurious claims that Dartmoor ponies would be culled under new government plans. Despite the media fanfare and airtime this story received, these allegations were utterly false. You can read the Dartmoor Nature Alliance’s response to the media furore here and Natural England’s blog which gave detailed responses to all claims made in the media. As a result of the misleading press coverage, Natural England published a press release on 15 July revealing a sudden decision to introduce new protective legislation for Dartmoor Ponies. You can read the press release here and the Dartmoor Nature Alliance’s response by clicking this link. Bring back Dartmoor’s rainforests - Dartmoor Nature Alliance campaign Still on the subject of Dartmoor and its incredible habitats… Dartmoor is home to three temperate rainforests – all remnants of once larger woodlands. These fragile, ancient Oak woodlands support an extraordinary diversity of wildlife, including rare mosses, lichens, ferns and fungi. Once widespread across Britain, temperate rainforests are now one of the rarest ecosystems in the UK, making their protection and restoration a vital part of nature recovery on Dartmoor. In May, the Dartmoor Nature Alliance (DNA) launched a campaign to help expand and improve Dartmoor’s rare temperate rainforests. If you’d like to learn more about these incredible ecosystems, and how you can support the campaign to bring back Dartmoor’s rainforests, follow this link and read Guy Shrubsole’s blog by clicking here. Wild Justice on Sea Thank you to all of those who expressed an interest in joining us for a boat trip in Poole Harbour - nearly 500 of you applied for tickets! On Friday we sent invites out to a group of randomly selected applicants - please check your junk box to make sure you didn't miss it. If there are any outstanding places as of Friday 31st July, we'll be drawing some extra names out of the hat. Keep an eye out! Wild Justice at Wild Summit Wild Summit returns to the Bristol Beacon on 9 September 2026 and Wild Justice will be there. We’ll provide more information nearer the time but as well as having a stand, our CEO Bob Elliot will be speaking on the main stage, and we’ll be putting on another entertaining stage show, following last year’s roaring success! We’ll also be launching an exciting new joint project with some of our colleagues. Tickets for Wild Summit are on sale now and we hope to see you there! Thank you, Wild Justice (CEO: Bob Elliot. Directors: Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay). This is the 272nd Wild Justice newsletter. This email was sent to you because you subscribed to it through the Wild Justice website or through an e-action or a petition where you ticked a box. Thank you. We will only use your personal details to send you the Wild Justice newsletter. We will not give or sell your details to anyone else. You can unsubscribe at any time: there is an unsubscribe button at the foot of this email or you can reply to this email and ask us to remove you from the list (the former will happen immediately, the latter might take a few days). 124, City Road London Greater London EC1V 2NX UNITED KINGDOM Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options

WILD JUSTICE—PART THREE—WILD JUSTICE AT SEA & BRISTOL BEACON

Wild Justice on Sea Thank you to all of those who expressed an interest in joining us for a boat trip in Poole Harbour - nearly 500 of you applied for tickets! On Friday we sent invites out to a group of randomly selected applicants - please check your junk box to make sure you didn't miss it. If there are any outstanding places as of Friday 31st July, we'll be drawing some extra names out of the hat. Keep an eye out! Wild Justice at Wild Summit Wild Summit returns to the Bristol Beacon on 9 September 2026 and Wild Justice will be there. We’ll provide more information nearer the time but as well as having a stand, our CEO Bob Elliot will be speaking on the main stage, and we’ll be putting on another entertaining stage show, following last year’s roaring success! We’ll also be launching an exciting new joint project with some of our colleagues.

WILD JUSTICE—PART TWO—RAINFORESTS

Bring back Dartmoor’s rainforests - Dartmoor Nature Alliance campaign Still on the subject of Dartmoor and its incredible habitats… Dartmoor is home to three temperate rainforests – all remnants of once larger woodlands. These fragile, ancient Oak woodlands support an extraordinary diversity of wildlife, including rare mosses, lichens, ferns and fungi. Once widespread across Britain, temperate rainforests are now one of the rarest ecosystems in the UK, making their protection and restoration a vital part of nature recovery on Dartmoor. In May, the Dartmoor Nature Alliance (DNA) launched a campaign to help expand and improve Dartmoor’s rare temperate rainforests. If you’d like to learn more about these incredible ecosystems, and how you can support the campaign to bring back Dartmoor’s rainforests, follow this

WILD JUSTICE—PART ONE—OVERGRAZING ON DARTMOOR

Today we bring you a few updates including a guest blog on our recent legal action about overgrazing on Dartmoor, news of a brilliant campaign to restore the incredible and valuable natural landscape of Dartmoor and also share some news about 'Wild Justice on Sea' and this year's 'Wild Summit'. Our Dartmoor grazing case – a deep dive into the judgement In March of this year, we finally received news that we had won our legal challenge, ruling that parts of Dartmoor had been mismanaged. We had argued that the Dartmoor Commoners’ Council (DCC) had failed to carry out its statutory legal duties to safeguard protected sites on Dartmoor, allowing overgrazing to impact wildlife and damage habitats. You can find out more about the initial stages of the case here and the court’s ruling here. Tony Whitehead, an environmental campaigner and a member of the Dartmoor Nature Alliance has written a brilliant in-depth overview of the judgement and what it means going forward for grazing on Dartmoor and for the wider governance of England’s common land. To read the blog, follow this link. Our legal challenge has put the issue of grazing on Dartmoor, and the urgent need for improved assessment and regulation of habitat management, squarely on the government’s agenda. Last month, you might have seen the whirlwind of media around the spurious claims that Dartmoor ponies would be culled under new government plans. Despite the media fanfare and airtime this story received, these allegations were utterly false. You can read the Dartmoor Nature Alliance’s response to the media furore here and Natural England’s blog which gave detailed responses to all claims made in the media. As a result of the misleading press coverage, Natural England published a press release on 15 July revealing a sudden decision to introduce new protective legislation for Dartmoor Ponies. You can read the press release here and the Dartmoor Nature Alliance’s response by clicking this link.

REFORM LED COUNCIL WANTS TO DESTROY ANCIENT WOODLAND

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Reform-led Council votes to push ahead with destroying ancient woodland #9 - Eye on the Wild PROTECT THE WILD JUL 25 READ IN APP Welcome to the ninth edition of Eye on the Wild, our new weekly roundup designed to keep you up to date with the latest stories concerning British wildlife. If you have a story you think we should cover, email us at contact@protectthewild.org.uk Reform-led Council votes to push ahead with destroying ancient woodland Kent County Councillors have voted 37–31 to approve a plan to extend a quarry. It will destroy at least 41 hectares of Oaken Wood, near Maidstone. The existing Gallagher Aggregates quarry site has already resulted in the loss of approximately 31 hectares of ancient woodland. The amount of ancient woodland lost would be more than the losses from HS2 and the Lower Thames Crossing combined. The Kent Mineral Sites Plan, which the council has approved for independent government examination, is a planning framework that identifies potential locations for sand, gravel, and hard rock extraction. The plan controversially includes the extension into Oaken Wood for extracting Kentish ragstone. It defies all logic that Reform would sacrifice ancient woodland, which are irreplaceable habitats covering just 2.5% of the UK. Oaken Wood is home to turtle doves, nightjars and dormice. Nightjars migrate from Sub-Saharan Africa to Oaken Wood each spring to breed and feed. Dormice are critically endangered in this country; their numbers decreased by 52% between 2009 and 2018. KCC Green councillor, Stuart Jeffery, opposes the plan to destroy the wood, saying: "Ancient woodland cannot be replaced or moved. Once it is lost, it is gone forever. Reform's plans are an act of ecocide." Friends of Oaken Wood states: “Oaken Wood is designated as a ‘plantation on ancient woodland site’ (PAWS). PAWS are a category of ancient woodland protected in the government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). This woodland is legally defined as ‘irreplaceable’ and has equivalent protection to ‘built heritage’, such as nationally listed buildings and scheduled monuments. The council are citing ‘wholly exceptional circumstances’ and a ‘compensation strategy’ as grounds for the woodland to be quarried.” There will be a public consultation, giving everyone another chance to object to plans. A government inspector will also examine whether the plan is 'sound'. Campaigners have been fighting this battle for over a decade, and it certainly isn’t over yet. To stay updated, follow Friends of Oaken Wood and join the Save Oaken Wood Facebook group. 7,550-acre estate that trained gundogs for bird shoots to be rewilded Emblehope, an estate in Northumberland, is set to be taken over by the rewilding business Restore. The Kennel Club has owned the site since 2016, employing gamekeepers and running bird shoots, while also permitting beef and sheep farming. Restore has exciting ambitions to completely restore and transform the peat bog, inspired by the “great bogs of Estonia or Finland.” The company says the land will now be dedicated entirely to nature, making it England's largest single, unbroken stretch of land under one owner given over to restoration as its sole purpose. Over the next thirty years, the plan is to re-wet around 2,000 acres of degraded peatland, restore lost vegetation, and introduce low-intensity grazing to build a mosaic of open water, bog, scrub, dwarf trees and flower-rich glades shaped by natural processes. Restore's founder, Benedict Macdonald, says that while many upland estates treat nature as a by-product of commercial activity, Emblehope is: “destined to become a biosphere-level reserve where nature itself is the driver.” However, Restore intends to shoot deer. It says deer management is a practice it will be “focusing on very heavily” for the regeneration of wildflowers, saplings and nightingales. RSPCA reports five-year high in reports of wild bird cruelty The RSPCA has recorded its highest number of summer cruelty reports involving wild birds in five years. Between July and August 2025, the charity logged 359 such incidents across England and Wales. This was nearly twice the 179 reported over the same stretch in 2024. Roughly 40% of all wild-bird cruelty reports reach the charity during summer, which the RSPCA says is due to more people being outdoors in the warmer months. Among the worst-affected species were pigeons, gulls, swans, ducks and crows, many of them hurt or killed with airguns, catapults and slingshots. This year, too, violence towards birds is continuing. So far in 2026, the RSPCA has already received 474 reports of cruelty. The overall total for the whole of 2025 stood at 876. The charity’s wildlife partnerships manager, Mike Scargill, stated that the real figure is almost certainly far higher, since so much cruelty goes unwitnessed and unreported. Follow Protect the Wild to get involved with our upcoming campaign to legislate against catapults, which are being increasingly used to murder birds throughout the UK. More than 2,000 pigeons shot at railway stations and depots in 16 months Horrific figures have been obtained by Freedom of Information requests and published in the BBC. Pigeons are shot at railway stations and depots at night by professionals with air rifles, in what the ‘pest’ control industry says is an effort to stop droppings becoming slip hazards or a source of illness. Among stations run by state-owned companies, York was the worst, with 608 birds shot between January 2025 and April 2026, 152 of them on a single day. But the figures don’t cover private firms, so the true death toll is likely much higher than the confirmed figure of 2,019. The worst offender was train operator LNER, with over 800 birds shot at its stations, while Network Rail ordered the killing of 600 pigeons across Bristol Temple Meads, London Euston and Edinburgh Waverley stations. Meanwhile, South Western Railway ordered the shooting of 250 pigeons. Transport for London was responsible for killing 147 pigeons, and Northern ordered the shooting of 143. A society that guns down thousands of pigeons and calls it acceptable is deeply broken. If you like the work we do at Protect the Wild, please consider donating a couple of pounds per month. Donate here SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

FROM PROTECT THE WILD—YOU POWER THE FIGHT TO HELP WILLIFE

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more YOU power the fight for British wildlife ROB POWNALL JUL 24 READ IN APP We’re pushing hard to finally end hunting with hounds for good. I stood in the Makerfield by-election in order to directly tell (the now) Prime Minister Andy Burnham that we need meaningful action for wildlife. Nothing but strengthening and enforcing the 2004 Hunting Act is good enough if we are to finally see an end to people ripping wild animals to pieces for the sheer fun of it. We helped ensure tens of thousands of responses were submitted to the recent Govt consultation and now thousands more have sent our letter outlining concerns that ‘drag hunting’ could be used as the new smokescreen. We’re funded entirely by people like you, our wonderful supporters. We don’t have any Govt funding or big corporate backers and due to the nature of our work we’re not eligible for most grants! Emails like this are crucial to continuing our vital work fighting for British wildlife. By picking up this beautiful and hard-hitting pin badge set you are helping the fight continue. Pin Badge SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

HUNT SABBOTEURS ASSOCIATION SAY THE STAG HUNTING SEASON IS FAST APPROACHING

View this email in your browser Hi, Supporter The Autumn Stag Hunting Season Is Fast Approaching In less than a few weeks the stag hunting season will begin, with the three remaining stag hunts in the south west, heading out to terrorise and kill mature autumn stags. This will continue until the end of October when they switch their sights to hinds. The autumn stag hunting season focuses on more mature stags, usually at least four years of age. Naturally these stags will be bigger than those terrorised in the spring and hunts will be looking to claim a trophy, targeting those with larger antlers, some of which will still be in velvet after the rutting season. Last season North Dorset Hunt Sabs witnessed this stag running for its life from the Quantock Staghounds. Unfortunately, each season there are more and more reports of the depravity of these hunters and the pain and terror they inflict upon these beautiful animals. In 2023 The Independent featured an article about the Quantock Staghounds, who, on the 23rd of October, chased a stag onto National Trust land. Sabs present on the day spoke of how they witnessed the stag running past them “in a terrible state, gasping for breath with his tongue hanging out, eyes bulging in terror.” Footage from this day can be found here. This stag should have been safe once he had entered National Trust land, however some riders and a supporter on a bike trespassed onto the land and the stag was pushed out towards Holsey Combe. At 6:30pm a monitor reportedly heard a gunshot; however, the kill was never confirmed. The hunt was back in the same area a few days later and killed a stag very early in the day. It is suspected that this was the same stag who was still recovering from the ordeal merely days earlier. The stag was moved off National Trust land, where he should have been safe, by the sadistic Quantock Staghounds. On the 21st August 2025 the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, who the HSA exposed in June for extreme cruelty towards a hind, killed and carved up a stag for their American guests. However, prior to the butchering of this stag, they had forced him to endure a three-hour chase before he could no longer go on and was shot. The hunt then tried to conceal themselves beneath a tree while they carved his body up for trophies and threw bits to the waiting hounds. Sickeningly followers were witnessed leaving with pieces of the stag in carrier bags. For over twenty years the Devon & Somerset staghounds have been breaking the law and terrorising stags, enabled by loopholes and exemptions within the current Hunting Act. © North Dorset Hunt Sabs Autumn stag hunting, as with cub hunting, takes place earlier in the day before conditions become too warm. Autumn stags will be larger due to a summer of good feeding, and will be weighed down by their large antlers. This married with the exhaustion from rutting means these stags are not able to endure a prolonged chase and will push themselves to the extreme in order to try and escape the depraved hunts. A stag’s lifeless body is hauled onto the back of a quad before being carved up. This video shows a collection of footage from the 2024 autumn stag hunting season and exposes just how barbaric it is. The hunts will use tactics such as driving quads/vehicles towards a stag to try and manipulate his direction of travel while riders and supporters will line roads and the surrounding hills. Hounds will be relayed in pairs to keep them fresh to ensure that the hunt can continue to chase the chosen stag for their own amusement. All of this is employed for the callous people who have no regard for wildlife or the law. Loopholes and exemptions in the law are allowing stag hunts to get away with abhorrent levels of animal cruelty. Thanks to the tireless work of sabs, stag hunting continues to be exposed and lives are saved. If you have any information regarding the three remaining stag hound packs then please contact the HSA. The information in this article was thanks to the hard work of North Dorset Hunt Sabs and Mendip Hunt Sabs. Join the Hunt Saboteurs Association! Support our vital work by becoming a member. Join The HSA Spread the word! Please share our news Share via email Facebook icon Instagram icon Twitter icon Logo Copyright (C) 2026 Hunt Saboteurs Association. All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from Hunt Saboteurs Association. Our mailing address is: BM HSA, London, WC1N 3XX, U.K. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe

ANNA EAGLE NOW IN DEFRA MUST NOT ALLOW A LOOPHOLE IN LEGISLATION TO ALLOW HUNTS TO CONTINUE

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more The new Defra Secretary must not hand the hunts a new loophole. Angela Eagle knows what hunts are capable of. PROTECT THE WILD JUL 27 READ IN APP Andy Burnham has appointed the aptly named Angela Eagle as head of Defra. For anyone who cares about ending the cruelty of hunting, this is a moment of real opportunity. Eagle has a genuine anti-hunting record, with knowledge of exactly how hunts behave. So we are calling on her to examine new evidence, outlined below, that drag hunting - where dogs follow a non-animal based scent - could be used as a loophole if trail hunting is banned. Tell Angela Eagle to close all loopholes A minister who has stood up to the hunts before Back in 2015, as Shadow Commons Leader, Eagle opposed the Conservative government’s attempt to quietly gut the Hunting Act through a “technical” amendment. She accused ministers of trying to “wreck” the Hunting Act, saying that they were “using this backdoor device because they don’t have the majority to repeal the Act or the guts to try.” More recently, as Defra’s farming minister, she repeatedly reaffirmed Labour’s manifesto commitment to ban trail hunting. In a written parliamentary answer, she stated that: “the nature of trail hunting makes it very difficult to do safely.” She continued: “The use of large packs of hounds reduces the control huntsmen have, putting wild mammals, household pets and even members of the public at risk.” She is right. And that is precisely why she, of all people, should not be fooled by what the hunting industry is planning next. Tell Angela Eagle to close all loopholes The next smokescreen is already being drawn up For more than twenty years, trail hunting - the supposed practice of laying an animal-based scent for hounds to follow - has been used as a smokescreen to carry on hunting and killing wild animals in plain sight. Labour rightly pledged to ban it, and this year Defra ran a consultation on doing exactly that. But in its messaging, Defra signalled that it wants “alternative practices such as drag hunting and clean-boot hunting, which use non-animal scents, to continue to thrive.” The hunting industry has pounced on this statement, and freshly leaked documents show precisely how they could exploit this. A confidential note written by British Hound Sports Association chairman Viscount Astor, seen by The Times, proposed that hunts promise to “convert” to drag hunting by 2028, presenting it as a solution that would avoid any change to the law. Astor wrote that the minister, Baroness Hayman, “could claim victory without the difficulty of legislation but would have, in her back pocket, the ability to produce a bill if hunting was not seen to change its ways. But by then we would be close to the next general election.” The strategy seems clear: offer drag hunting as a hollow concession, stall legislation, and run down the clock to an election (presumably Astor assumes Reform will be elected!). Tell Angela Eagle to close all loopholes Why drag hunting cannot be policed under the current law Drag hunting, like trail hunting, involves hounds following a laid scent. The only supposed difference being that the scent is non-animal-based. But as Eagle herself has acknowledged, large packs of hounds are difficult to control, and they can pick up and pursue the live scent of an animal. On top of this, hunts have been documented laying their trails close to coverts, where they know foxes are sheltering. And when dogs pick up on the scent of a fox, the current law is close to useless. The Hunting Act requires proof of intent, so prosecutors must show that a person intended to hunt a wild mammal with dogs. This is the loophole that has crippled enforcement for two decades. Hunts simply claim any kill was accidental, so proving intent beyond reasonable doubt is extraordinarily hard. So if Labour goes ahead and swaps the label from ‘trail hunting’ to ‘drag hunting’, Protect the Wild fears that absolutely nothing will change for foxes and other mammals. Hunts will continue exactly as they do now, killing wildlife and claiming kills were accidental, secure in the knowledge that the intent requirement makes conviction almost impossible. Tell Angela Eagle to close all loopholes What the legislation must do If the new government is serious about ending hunting rather than merely rebranding it, any new legislation must do two things. Firstly, it must not legislate drag hunting as a protected alternative. By doing this, Labour could be responsible for introducing the next smokescreen. Secondly, the legislation must remove the ‘intent’ requirement. So long as a kill can be waved away as accidental, hunts will never be properly convicted, whatever the activity is called. Angela Eagle has stood up to the hunts before. She has already said, in her own words, that packs of hounds cannot be safely controlled. She now has the power, as the head of Defra, to act on that knowledge. She must show conviction and end these loopholes for good, not hand the hunts another. Please sign our open letter/petition to Dame Angela Eagle and Baroness Sue Hayman, telling them to close all loopholes. Tell Angela Eagle to close all loopholes SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing