MAKERFIELD BY-ELECTION - ROB OF PROTECT THE WILD WANTS TEN RESIDENTS TO NOMINATE HIM - JUST LIKE THE GUGA

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more I need 10 fox-friendly people in Makerfield… PROTECT THE WILD MAY 18 READ IN APP Hi everyone, I have a slightly unusual request. As some of you may remember, during the Scottish elections I stood dressed as a giant gannet bird to raise awareness about the brutal Guga hunt. Well… I may be about to do something similar again. The government’s public consultation on banning trail hunting closes on the very same day as the upcoming Makerfield by-election. After years of promises, warm words and political hesitation, I think it’s time to make a bit of noise and remind politicians that people have not forgotten about hunting. So yes, there is a very real possibility I’m about to stand in the election dressed as a fox. This would not be about becoming an MP. It would be about using what is likely to become one of the most heavily watched and widely discussed by-elections in British electoral history to force wildlife protection, fox hunting and the government’s promises back into the national spotlight. If Andy Burnham wins the seat, it is highly likely he will become the Prime Minister. And that creates an opportunity. An opportunity to make sure the issue of illegal hunting is not ignored, brushed aside or quietly forgotten yet again. To officially appear on the ballot paper, I need 10 people from the Makerfield constituency who are registered to vote there and willing to sign a nomination form. That’s all it is: no campaigning obligations no volunteering no financial commitment Just a signature to help get a fox onto the ballot paper. To make things easy, I would come directly to you, wherever you are in the constituency. If you live anywhere within the Makerfield constituency — including Ashton-in-Makerfield, Bryn, Golborne, Hindley, Orrell, Abram, Winstanley or surrounding areas — and would be willing to help, please email: makerfield@protectthewild.org.uk with: your name postcode and contact number. British democracy may be about to get slightly stranger :) Rob SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

GOOD NEWS FROM CORNWALL WILDLIFE TRUST - DONATIONS TO BY BARTINNEY ARE AT 80K

Dear John We wanted to share some fantastic news - thanks to the incredible generosity of hundreds of supporters, our Bartinney Land Purchase Appeal has reached its £80,000 fundraising target. This means Cornwall Wildlife Trust can now secure a vital 13.6-acre area of land within Bartinney Nature Reserve in West Cornwall, creating a larger and more connected home for wildlife. By bringing this land into the reserve, we can reconnect fragmented habitats, restore species-rich grassland, strengthen Cornish hedges and build a more resilient landscape where wildlife can adapt and thrive as the climate changes. From cuckoos and skylarks to adders and rare bees, so many species will benefit from the larger, better-connected reserve. If you donated to the appeal, thank you so very much. Your gift truly helped make all this possible, and we are so grateful for your support. If you wanted to donate but didn’t get the chance, there’s still time - you can still make a gift today. Any further donations will help fund future land purchases or similar conservation projects, allowing us to protect more places for wildlife across Cornwall. Send a gift today From everyone here at Cornwall Wildlife Trust, thank you for being part of a growing community of people taking action for wildlife – and helping to create a Cornwall where nature thrives. Best wishes, Cornwall Wildlife Trust View this email in your browser Facebook icon Instagram icon YouTube icon LinkedIn icon © 2026 Cornwall Wildlife Trust. All rights reserved. Registered charity number 214929. Privacy Policy and T&Cs Our mailing address is: Cornwall Wildlife Trust Five Acres, Allet, Truro, Cornwall, TR4 9DJ Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list.

FROM PROTECT THE WILD - FACTORY BRED GAME BIRDS - IS A GAME OF FUN FOR THE SHOOTERS

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more The Reality Behind Britain’s Shooting Estates PROTECT THE WILD MAY 17 READ IN APP There is a deep cynicism at the heart of the shooting industry. The same estates that advertise days in pursuit of wild, free-flying birds - charging their clients thousands of pounds for the privilege - often source those birds from breeding stock that have spent months in cages. Pheasants and partridges used for egg production spend a large part of their adult lives held in what are known as ‘raised laying units’: raised cages. They spend months suspended above the earth in wire mesh cages, never making contact with soil, leaf litter, grass or anything that might connect them to the natural world they are being sold as representing. This is a business decision. Cramming as many birds into as little space as possible. And the birds pay for it with their physical and mental health every single day. Become a Game Changer A pheasant is not a domesticated animal. Thousands of years of selective breeding have not dulled a pheasant’s instincts or reshaped a pheasant’s needs. These are birds that have evolved to forage. To scratch at the earth, turn over leaves, and investigate their surroundings. A pheasant makes hundreds of small decisions every day about where to go, what to eat and how to interact with other birds. These are not optional extras in a pheasant’s life - they are the behaviours that define them. Remove them, and you do not have a pheasant living a reduced life. You have an animal in a state of chronic deprivation. And that is precisely what the raised cage does. It removes everything. The wire mesh floor means the birds cannot scratch, cannot dustbathe, cannot forage. The cage dimensions mean they cannot move freely, cannot escape conflict with other birds, cannot make any meaningful choice about how to spend their time. In their glossy video Heart of England talk about how they have ‘enriched’ the birds’ environment. Enrichment is apparently a piece of wood. There is no complexity. There is just feed, water, and wire. And a bit of timber. Here’s a screenshot from the Heart of England Farms promotional video. But this is only part of the story. These birds, non-native Red-legged or French Partridges, will spend months in the cages before being boxed up, trucked to a shooting estate, and put in front of the guns… This is sensory and behavioural poverty on an industrial scale, imposed on creatures that are, by the shooting industry’s own proud description, wild. The consequences of caging are not theoretical. They are visible, documented and deeply disturbing. Crowded, unstimulated birds under chronic stress do what stressed, bored animals do: they turn on each other. Feather pecking, aggression and injurious behaviour are endemic in these systems. The industry’s response to this suffering has not been to question whether the cages themselves are the problem. Instead, it has reached for a technological fix. Beak guards — plastic devices attached to a bird’s face to prevent it from inflicting wounds — are routinely fitted to pheasants and partridges in cage systems like these. Saddles are strapped to the backs of hens to protect them from the damage caused by repeated, stressed mating in confined spaces. We will be examining these practices in detail in the coming weeks, because they deserve far more scrutiny than they have ever received. What they represent is not about animal welfare or animal care. They are damage limitation tools applied to animals that should never have been put in these conditions in the first place. None of this can be fixed with a welfare code. None of it can be addressed through voluntary guidelines or industry pledges to do better. The raised cage is not a flawed version of an acceptable system — it is the definition of a system that should not exist. Become a Game Changer Shooting’s fantasy world The shooting industry has spent decades hiding this reality behind images of rolling countryside and talk of conservation and stewardship. It has sold a fantasy of wildness while operating an infrastructure of confinement that would generate public outrage if it were applied to any other species. That outrage is overdue. This industry does not need reform. It needs to be held to account for what it actually is — and what it has been allowed to be, in plain sight, for far too long. At Heart of England Farms in Warwickshire, our undercover investigator found something even more shocking: colony cages — cages arranged in long rows and stacked three levels high, housing birds at every tier. The inevitable consequence of this arrangement is as straightforward as it is appalling: the birds on the upper levels defecate onto the birds confined directly below them. There is nowhere to move. There is no escape. The birds on the lower tiers simply endure it. The noise in the shed where these cages are housed is overwhelming. But Heart of England has tried to promote these hellish cages as an improvement, a step forward. The level of suffering they are attempting to whitewash has to be seen to be believed. In our upcoming Substack posts, we will be taking a detailed look at these colony cage systems. It is not easy to look at, but PLEASE don’t turn away. The birds are counting on us. All images are screenshots recorded by our undercover investigator at Heart of England. All of these cages were in use at the time of filming 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. 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. We are working to END BIRD SHOOTING. This suffering has to stop. Please share this article. Share our socials. Follow us for updates. We are at the beginning of something. Months of undercover work. Hundreds of hours of footage. Farms across the UK exposed. And we are only just getting started. But investigations alone do not end industries. People do. We are asking you to become a Game Changer. To stand 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. The first 500 people to sign up will receive a limited edition pin badge. This is the beginning. Be 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

PROTECT THE WILD SAY BREEDING OF BIRDS TO BE SHOT FOR FUN IS AN INDUSTRY

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more The shooting industry would hate you seeing this PROTECT THE WILD MAY 15 READ IN APP You are probably staring at that image above right now trying to work out what you are looking at. Most people will think it is a solar farm. It is not. This is the Heart of England ‘game’ farm. Rows of tiny cages. Hundreds and hundreds of them, stretching across acres of the Warwickshire countryside. And inside each one are birds caged for one reason: to produce more birds to be shot for “sport”. Cage after cage after cage, across an entire farm containing thousands of birds. A systematic, industrial breeding process carried out on living creatures who have no choice, no escape, and no existence beyond their function as reproductive units. The industry itself states that more than 30 million pheasants are shot each year. Many people wonder how a figure that high can be true. How can there be SO MANY pheasants? THIS is how. Millions of pheasants and partridges are factory-farmed like this every year in the UK in tiny cages like these. Become a Game Changer This is misery on an industrial scale. The shooting industry works hard to present itself as a small-scale rural tradition, woven into the fabric of the British countryside. The numbers tell a very different story — one that this investigation will be examining in detail over the coming weeks. More than 60 million pheasants and Red-legged Partridges, both non-native species, are released onto British shooting estates every single year. That figure has ballooned by nearly 600% over the past half-century, and in 2018 alone exceeded 61 million birds. This is not a handful of estates maintaining a countryside tradition. It is one of the largest annual releases of farmed animals into the British landscape ever undertaken, on a scale that dwarfs the wild populations of almost every native bird species in this country. And it begins with factory farming. In rows of cages. Video clip: Pheasants in raised cages, Heart of England. 2025 The overwhelming majority of shoots depend entirely on hand-reared, intensively farmed birds to function. Feeding that demand requires a network of around 300 ‘game’ farms across Britain, topped up by a substantial continental supply chain, with at least half of all birds beginning their lives on industrial farms overseas before enduring long-distance lorry journeys to reach UK estates. Become a Game Changer This is an operation with the infrastructure, supply chains and lobbying muscle of modern agribusiness. Yet it has successfully avoided the regulatory oversight applied to every other form of intensive animal farming in Britain. In the weeks ahead, we will look in more detail at the appalling cages in the images above: the infamous raised laying units — part of a system that could not be described in any better way than “factory farming.” And if you think these cages are bad, wait until we show you what we found at Heart of England. Its owners have taken the suffering one step further: colony cages. Cages piled three high, where birds literally defecate on the birds in the tier below. For now, though, take in the scale of all of this, recognise the suffering, and remember it. All screenshots from the undercover investigation at Heart of England Farms. 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. We are working to END BIRD SHOOTING. This suffering has to stop. Please share this article. Share our socials. Follow us for updates. 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. And we are only just getting started. But investigations alone do not end industries. People do. We are asking you to become a Game Changer. To stand 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. The first 500 people to sign up will receive a limited edition pin badge. This is the beginning. Be 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 PROTECT THE WILD - BIRD NETTING WHY OH WHY?

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more One click could save so many lives One click. One message. Eight chances to save lives. CHARLOTTE SMITH MAY 13 READ IN APP Birds are suffering. Birds are dying. And it could have been prevented. Right now, birds are trapped inside bird netting across the UK, unable to escape, slowly starving, left to die. This isn’t a side effect. It’s the result of a practice that is inhumane, indiscriminate, and ineffective. The Problem With Bird Netting Bird netting is sold as a deterrent to birds nesting in places people don’t want them. In reality it is a trap. Birds fly in and can’t get out. They die of exhaustion, starvation, or injury. Their bodies are left to rot, sometimes for weeks, in full public view. Pigeons are most commonly affected, but netting doesn’t discriminate. Any bird can become a victim. It doesn’t keep birds out. It locks them in. Click to remove netting! Deceased pigeon, who likely starved to death at Victoria Place, Woking, Surrey. 8 Locations. 8 Chances to Make a Difference. We’ve identified eight sites where harmful netting is actively trapping birds right now. We contacted every one of these businesses and asked them to remove it. They refused, or didn’t reply at all. Huws Gray, Pakefield, Lowestoft The Bush Hotel, Farnham, Surrey System Hydraulics Ltd, Cumbria Victoria Place, Woking, Surrey RD&E Hospital, Exeter Notre Dame School, Liverpool Kingdom Motors Ltd, London Haworth Arms, Hull So now we need you. Click to remove netting! Deceased pigeon, Haworth Arms, Hull. A New Tool: One Email, Eight Recipients We know petition fatigue is real. That’s why we built something different. Our new tool lets you send a single email that reaches all eight businesses at once, with multiple recipients BCC’d automatically. You don’t fill out eight forms. You don’t sign eight petitions. You act once, and all eight hear from you. One click. One message. Eight chances to save lives. Sign our petition today. Tell these businesses to take the netting down, contact Humane Wildlife Solutions, and choose compassion over convenience, before more lives are lost. These birds have no voice. You do. Please use it. Click to remove netting! Deceased pigeon at Kingdom Motors Ltd, London. What Else You Can Do 🔴 See a bird trapped in netting, alive? You must report it immediately to your local wildlife rescue, the RSCPA, the site owner, and the police. We are not able to physically remove netting ourselves, only the businesses can do that, but a rescue team may be able to intervene before it’s too late. ⚫ See a dead bird in netting? Report it to us at End Bird Netting. Every report builds the case for action and helps us identify new sites. 📢 Keep sharing this. These businesses are counting on no one noticing. Prove them wrong. Click to remove netting! This gull was finally rescued after spending 42 hours trapped in netting at Notre Dame School in Liverpool. The netting should never have been there in the first place and it’s time it was removed. Help fund this project and the fight for British wildlife! Pick up one of our lovely pigeon pin badges and help us protect these animals and change public perceptions! Pigeon 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 WILD JUSTICE - A NEED TO KNOW READ FROM SHOOTING BIRDS TO OVERGRAZING ON DARTMOOR

Good morning, Today’s newsletter brings you a reminder about the consultation on bird shooting seasons, as well as other updates including a consultation on so-called trail hunting and a campaign to save Great Crested Newts. The shooting season of Woodcock – consultation closes soon: The Government recently launched a consultation on proposed changes to Schedule 2 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, which governs which bird species can be shot, and when. The proposals cover species including Goldeneye, Pintail and Woodpigeon and are quite nuanced and technical, often with different changes proposed in different parts of the UK. This consultation was launched in part thanks to our campaigning and your support around limiting the shooting of Woodcock. Now we have the chance to see those changes actually happen, alongside several other positive changes for a range of bird species. The consultation closes this Sunday, 17th May. Many of you have already taken the time to respond — thank you. If you haven't yet done so, we'd really appreciate it if you could find a moment to respond before Sunday. We've reviewed Defra's proposals in detail and summarised our thoughts on each proposed change in our guidance notes, which we hope will help you formulate your own response. Click here to read our blog, where you'll find guidance on responding question by question. Wild Justice in the news: ‘What the Dartmoor ‘overgrazing ruling’ means for statutory bodies in England’. In March we heard the news that the High Court had ruled in our favour on our legal challenge about overgrazing on Dartmoor. In the case, we argued that ecologically valuable (and protected) areas of the National Park were being failed by the body responsible for looking after them. This week some analysis of the case has featured in the Environment Journal, that has published a detailed piece on the implications of the High Court ruling. The article quotes our CEO, Bob Elliot, who points out that upland areas like Dartmoor are among the most marginal farming land in the UK, covering vast areas while contributing relatively little food production. Our argument is that the public (who have subsidised this farming through their taxes) deserves an honest conversation about whether these landscapes could deliver a greater societal benefit if managed differently, particularly in terms of nature recovery and carbon storage. We are clear that this is not a call to end grazing, but a challenge to the assumption that farming must remain the primary use of our uplands. The article also highlights the wider significance of the ruling, noting that it sets a precedent for other statutory bodies managing similar landscapes across England, including on Exmoor, in the Lake District and in the New Forest. All can now expect greater scrutiny and pressure to demonstrate that their decisions are properly evidence-based. You can read the article by clicking here. A reminder about the consultation on so-called trail hunting: Last month we drew your attention to another consultation, this time looking at the implementation of a ban on so-called trail hunting - see here. Trail hunting is supposed to be a substitute for Fox hunting (which was banned under the Hunting Act 2004 by the previous Labour government) where, theoretically at least, hounds follow an artificial scent trail laid by humans. However, many groups have, over years, provided significant evidence that trail hunting is being used as a smokescreen to conceal ongoing Fox hunting, which has ultimately led to the Labour party’s commitment to ban it. Over 300 campaigners attended a rally outside Westminster last weekend, organised by the League Against Cruel Sports, calling for an end to the trail hunting lie. We were happy to join them and we applaud the efforts of the League, the Hunt Saboteurs and many others who have worked tirelessly to expose the illegality and appalling cruelty associated with this ‘sport’. The consultation on how best to implement a taril hunting ban is open until 18 June 2026, so there’s still plenty of time to participate. The League Against Cruel Sports has produced some very helpful consultation guidance, which we’d recommend using to guide your response. You can find it by clicking here. A petition about Great Crested Newts – and much more: We’d like to draw your attention to the Save Our Newts campaign and ask you to support their petition. A significant development is threatening London's largest breeding colony of Great Crested Newts, in Glebelands Local Nature Reserve in Barnet. The proposed development — one of the densest in the country — could push the GC Newts to local extinction. The application is currently being considered by the Mayor of London and a decision is due by 27 May. Whilst a local issue, this case has potential repercussions greater than one nature reserve. Under growing pressure to hit housing targets, we’ve seen legal protections for wildlife being steadily eroded. The Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 allows developers to pay a levy instead of carrying out genuine habitat mitigation (see our criticism of this "cash to trash" system here), effectively letting money substitute for meaningful environmental protection. What happens at Glebelands will act as a test case for how seriously those protections are taken. If this development proceeds, it sends a signal to developers and planning authorities across the country that wildlife protections can simply be brushed aside when they become inconvenient. Please sign the petition to stand up for Glebelands, for Great Crested Newts, and for the principle that our remaining wild spaces deserve genuine protection. You can add your name by clicking here. That’s it for now! Thank you, Wild Justice (CEO: Bob Elliot. Directors: Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay). This is the 268th 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

THE TRUE EXTENT OF SPRING STAG HUNTING - THE SHAME OF THE WEST COUNTRY

View this email in your browser Hi, Supporter The True Extent of Spring Stag Hunting The Spring Stag hunting season finished at the of April, after two months of pain, suffering and terror being inflicted upon, not only young stags in the South West, but the herds that reside there. This season follows on from hind hunting which comes after Autumn Stag hunting. During March and April, the three stag hunt packs pick out and hound young Spring stags, pushing them beyond their limits, forcing them to endure horrifying ordeals, with the aim of finally killing them and carving up their bodies. Sab groups have been attending meets; saving lives and documenting the cruelty and the exploitation of loopholes within the Hunting Act 2004 which enables these hunts to continue to bring terror to the South West. Below are a few documented incidents but the extent of abuse spans much wider than this. Sabs have been working tirelessly to expose the barbarity of stag hunts in the South West. On the 16th of March the Quantock Staghounds pushed a young stag beyond exhaustion. Sabs witnessed the stag panting and foaming at the mouth, before he was forced to endure another two hours of suffering. Eventually the stag became trapped up a wire fence, blood around his nose and a large cut to his chest where he had no doubt crashed into a fence in a desperate attempt to escape. A Mendip Hunt Sab came face to the face with this beautiful stag before he was ushered away by hunt staff who shot him, whooping and laughing as they did so. This young stag was pushed beyond exhaustion. With blood around his nose and a cut across his chest he had been subjected to horrific levels of cruelty for ‘research and observation.’ Credit: Mendip Hunt Sabs. Another example of the sheer cruelty and barbarity that is stag hunting is when on the 31st of March, the Devon & Somerset Staghounds targeted a stag that had part of one of his legs missing. They forced him to endure being chased by hounds, riders and quad bikes, before killing him. During the chase the stag was witnessed slipping and almost falling down a steep embankment whilst hunt supporters screamed and shouted to try and dictate his direction of travel. Stag hunts hide behind exemptions such as “Rescue of a Wild Mammal” to be able to continue inflicting pain and terror. At the Devon and Somerset Staghounds meet on the 18th of April, the initial target stag thankfully managed to evade the hunt, but not before being subjected to hours of being chased, with the huntsman riding directly at the herd, which included calves, to try and split them up. Realising this was a failed mission they moved on to terrorise an injured stag at Barton Wood. This stag had been seen limping and so was then forced to run for an hour in steep terrain before being shot. This is a direct contradiction of the ‘rescue’ of an injured or sick deer exemption which is in the Hunting Act 2004. Devon & Somerset Staghounds on a mission to kill. Credit: Mendip Hunt Sabs. At the Quantock Staghounds closing meet on the 23rd of April, a young stag was forcibly contained in a small area and made to run with no chance to rest. Eventually, the brave stag decided to make a break for safety and despite riders and quad bikes positioning themselves illegally offroad to prevent him crossing the track, the stag broke through, heading in the direction of the League Against Cruel Sports’ New Ground Sanctuary. The exhausted stag continued to push on despite a gunman ready to take his life. North Dorset Hunt Sabs reported of “horrendous noise” coming from supporters in an attempt to scare the stag back, but thankfully he pushed on past them. The presence of a Wildlife Guardian investigator then forced the hunt to leave, with this young stag’s life saved. Riders at the Quantock Staghounds attempted to prevent this stag from reaching the safety of a sanctuary. Credit: North Dorset Hunt Sabs. Sadly, cruelty such as this is a regular occurrence at stag hunts as they continue to exploit loopholes within the Hunting Act 2004. An exemption which has been mentioned in this article is the “Rescue of a Wild Mammal.” One of the conditions of this exemption is that “reasonable steps are taken for the purpose of ensuring that as soon as possible after the wild mammal is found, appropriate action (if any) is taken to relieve its suffering.” However, as sabs witness time and time again and as is mentioned above, injured deer are forced to partake in the hunts sickening chase for hours before being shot. Similarly, another loophole which is exploited is that of “Research and Observation.” This is often cited by pro-hunters despite there never being any research published since the Hunting Act 2004 was introduced. There is absolutely no evidence to support this excuse. In a paper entitled The Bateson Report which was published in 1997, Professor Bateson stated that “deer, particularly red deer are not adapted for long, endurance chases.” The study also reported that “hunted deer experienced extreme psychological terror and physical exhaustion.” Despite these findings deer are continually subjected to terrifying ordeals at the hands of the three remaining stag hunt packs in the South West. This stag was killed on the 4th of April by the Devon & Somerset Staghounds. His body was thrown onto the back of a quad bike while supporters waited to see it carved up. Credit: North Dorset Hunt Sabs. The law must do better to protect our deer and ensure that they are not subjected to sadistic cruelty. Have your say and tell the government that this barbarity must stop. Read the HSA’s consultation guidelines Thank you to all the sabs who continue to expose the sickening cruelty of stag hunting, and additional thanks to North Dorset Hunt Sabs and Mendip Hunt Sabs for the images used in this article. Read Stag Hunting: The Shame of the West Country 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