IT’S BADGERS AGAIN - SEE WHAT THE HUNT SABOTEURS WERE ABLE TO PREVENT

View this email in your browser Hi, Supporter The Long Fight for Badgers A family of badgers snuffle the ground, rooting out grubs for their supper. Alerted by a strange scent, they turn around to see silhouetted against the moonlit sky two human figures standing there. One is carrying a gun. They don’t understand what this means but know there is danger close by. Before they can move, another group of humans appear carrying torches. They move towards the armed men and they drive away. The badgers are safe. Badger cull sabs have chased the shooters away and they will survive another night. A survivor in a cull zone. Image © Wiltshire Against The Badger Cull This much persecuted native animal has been made a scapegoat for the flawed biosecurity of the dairy industry and is being blamed for Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle. In 2013 the government at the time, the Conservative & Lib Dem coalition, introduced what it called pilot culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire. Bowing to pressure from Defra and influenced by the ‘Krebs trials’ from the 1990s and 2000s, these culls were to allow shooters to kill badgers by free shooting at night and cage trapping followed by shooting. In 2012 Lord Krebs, who chaired the review team behind the randomised badger culling trials, was interviewed and stated that “The scientific case is as clear as it can be: this cull is not the answer to TB in cattle.” Yet in 2013 the cull’s aim was to kill 70% of badgers in each cull zone. Huge public protest and resistance followed. Anti-cull protests took place across the country. Image © Gloucester Badger Office Rightly outraged by this proposed massacre, activists and ordinary members of the public alike organised protests and arranged nightly patrols. The resistance was so fierce that in 2013, the cost of policing alone in the two pilot areas was £2.6m. Despite the exhaustive efforts of campaigners who were out patrolling and guarding badger setts night after night, over a period of six weeks, during this first year 1,879 badgers were killed in Gloucestershire and Somerset, the total cost per badger at around £5,000. A victim of flawed policy. Badger blood visible in a cage trap. Image © Gloucester Badger Office Many prominent celebrities spoke out against the cull, including Sir Brian May, as well as expert veterinarians and scientists. There were concerns that the killing was not humane, with badgers shot but not killed outright, suffering lingering deaths, or left in unchecked cage traps during the heat of the day. This murdered family of badgers included a cub. Image © Wiltshire Against The Badger Cull As well as being senseless, the culls were also ineffective. Thousands of badgers were being killed while bTB in cattle remained high. Instead of this being the end of the badger cull, it was instead rolled out to further areas. As the cull zones grew larger and covered more and more of the country, activists worked even harder to cover these wider areas and protect as many badgers as possible. Meanwhile the culls were costing the public a fortune; by 2018 the cost of the badger cull had exceeded £50 million. Campaigners protest in Derbyshire. Image © Derbyshire Against The Badger Cull In 2024, Sir Brian May released a BBC documentary called ‘Brian May: The Badgers, The Farmers and Me’ which challenged the scientific basis of England’s badger cull policy. The film showed how it was cattle-to-cattle transmission, rather than via badgers, that was the main source of bTB. With public opinion firmly against the badger cull, in 2024 the Labour Party stated they would phase out the cull and instead introduce vaccination. At the beginning of May we received the news that no new badger cull licences had been issued in Cumbria - the last cull zone remaining in England. While we remain optimistic that the badger culls are over in England, we will be ready should they ever start again. We are also closely watching events in Wales with Plaid Cymru now leading the Welsh government and claiming they will use a “science-led” approach, rather than the previous government’s cattle-focused approach, to bTB and “potentially opening the door to the use of badger culling as a management technique.” A cruel trap placed directly onto a badger sett. © Wiltshire Against The Badger Cull Since 2013, the badger cull in England has resulted in the killing of roughly a quarter of a million badgers. This means that roughly half the estimated badger population has been needlessly killed. When we look back at the long years of fighting the badger cull in England, we remember first and foremost the innocent lives lost. These shy creatures just wanted to live. They did not deserve to die. We also remember the huge numbers of ordinary people who achieved extraordinary things, who came together as strangers united by the determination to fight for badgers and who saved countless lives in the process. On patrol. Image © Somerset Against The Badger Cull As the cull areas grew, so did the numbers of people taking a stand against them and from these activists many hunt sab groups were formed - with people learning the essential sab skills of endurance, camaraderie and resistance. The government has launched a public consultation on Trail Hunting – this is our chance to stop cruel hunting for good. You can read the HSA’s guidance and take part in the consultation here. The deadline is 18th June 2026 – make sure your voice is heard. Take part in the Trail Hunting Consultation now: Have your say 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

FROM PROTECT THE WILD — STUFF THE TAXIDERMISTS IS WHAT I WOULD SAY

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more We paid a visit to the most vile shop in Scotland Taxidermied hunting victims, fox fur coats, racoon's tail hats and owl feather fishing hooks. DEVON DOCHERTY MAY 18 READ IN APP Last week, we were travelling down from some campaigning work in Inverness, and we passed a shop called The House of Bruar. We decided to go in for a look, and what we found shocked us. The House of Bruar is a high-end department store in the Scottish highlands, and it looks innocent from the outside. But step inside and you will find some of the most sickening displays of animal cruelty on the market. TAKE ACTION Real fox fur jackets selling for £1,150. Hats made with raccoon tails. Fishing hooks tied with the feathers and bodies of owls, hares, snipes and peacocks. Taxidermied animals displayed throughout the store like decorations - dead pheasants, stags and grouse turned into props for entertainment and profit. There was even a stuffed fox dressed in hunting gear, clutching a gun, as if to mock the victims of hunting and shooting. It’s absolutely vile that they think this is acceptable decoration. Wild animals are not ornaments. They are not status symbols. And they should not be reduced to lifeless displays to sell an outdated vision of “country culture.” No animal should end up skinned for a coat, turned into a hat, or mounted on a wall to entertain people. That’s why we’ve launched an e-action calling on House of Bruar to: Stop selling fur and feather products Remove taxidermied animals from displays Commit to becoming a fur-free, cruelty-free retailer, in line with the values of the vast majority of the British public House of Bruar has a choice. It can continue down the path of becoming a House of Horrors - or it can move with the times and show respect for animals. Please take 30 seconds to send an email today. EMAIL HOUSE OF BRUAR SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing

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