Wednesday, 18 February 2026
FROM PROTECT THE WILD — STAG HUNTING A CRUEL & EXHAUSTIVE WAY TO DIE
FROM CORNWALL WILDLIFE TRUST — IT’S AN UPDATE ON THE GOOD WORK BEING DONE
Monday, 16 February 2026
FROM PROTECT THE WILD — A NICE STORY FOR A CHANGE — DESTROYING THE MYTH ON REHOMEING HOUNDS
A life beyond the hunt: Exposing the lie of the "can't be rehomed" foxhoundHow one abandoned foxhound exposes the myth that these dogs cannot live safely and happily beyond the hunting industry
The hunting industry repeatedly insists that foxhounds cannot be rehomed and that once they are no longer useful, their lives are effectively over. We wanted to challenge that narrative. So we went looking for the truth. We found it in one dog, his name is Alfred. It is believed Alfred was picked up by a member of the public after being left behind by a hunt in Lincolnshire. He was not microchipped. No one came forward to claim him. Another hound written off. Another life treated as disposable. Alfred entered the rescue system carrying no paperwork, no history, and no explanation only the quiet weight of whatever he had already endured. But Alfred’s story didn’t end there. Thankfully, he wasn’t in rescue for long. He landed on all four paws and was given what every dog deserves safety, care, and a loving home.
His caregiver remembers Alfred’s first night vividly. “He found a safe corner of my bedroom the furthest corner of the house from the front door. He was quiet. He didn’t howl or even bark.” This was not a dog grieving the loss of the hunt. This was a dog seeking refuge. “He very rarely makes any noise at all,” his caregiver explains. “Only sometimes in the garden at night, if he can hear other dogs or wildlife in the neighbourhood.” For the first week, Alfred wouldn’t go outside. “He didn’t want to venture into the garden at all. He was completely on his guard leaving his spot in my room as though he was afraid of going outside.” Fear, not ferocity. Caution, not conditioning.
Alfred has never “gone into cry” the behaviour hunts so often claim defines these dogs. Instead, he has discovered something else… “He gets excited and really enjoys going on hikes through the countryside and into the mountains.” Out on walks, Alfred moves with his nose to the ground, constantly reading the land: “He walks with his nose down all the time, following scents. Only when he meets other dogs, humans, or even the occasional fox does he lift his head.” What Alfred loves is not the chase, but the world itself. “He loves his walks because the trees, the birds, the scent of the wildlife that’s his enjoyment.” There is no aggression. No fixation. No desire to harm. “Not an ounce of discontent. He’s just a normal dog.” And perhaps most telling of all, “He lives for the scent of life as opposed to destroying it.”
Alfred is not an anomaly. He is proof. Proof that foxhounds are not broken. Proof that they are not incapable of family life. Proof that what the hunting industry calls “instinct” is in fact something shaped, narrowed, and trained into a single purpose. Chasing. Cornering. Killing. Alfred shows us the truth beneath that training. He lives for scent, but not for the chase. He reads the land, not to pursue a target, but to experience the world around him. The trees, the birds, the trails left behind by wildlife. His joy is in discovery, not destruction. And Alfred is also proof of something else: foxhounds do not need the hunt to survive. They need safety. Once Alfred was given that, he did exactly what foxhounds have always been capable of doing. He lived. He loved. He settled into a home that does not force him to become a hunting machine, but allows him to exist as he always should have been allowed to. Like any other dog.
We know there are more foxhounds like him, dogs who have been abandoned, rescued, rehomed, and allowed to live full lives beyond the hunt. Their stories deserve to be heard. If you or someone you know has rehomed a foxhound from a hunt and would like to help challenge the myth that these dogs are unrehomable, we want to hear from you. Please send your story to foxhounds@protectthewild.org.uk. Together, we can show that foxhounds are not disposable, and that life beyond the hunt is not only possible, but necessary. Support Protect the Wild with a small monthly donationWe only ask for a few pounds a month because our strength isn’t big donors or hidden backers. It’s thousands of ordinary people chipping in small amounts. Together, that becomes unstoppable. Your support powers everything we do to defend British wildlife: Our goal is 300 new monthly supporters.
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Sunday, 15 February 2026
FROM PROTECT THE WILD — THE BADGER BLAME GAME CONTINUES
Dame Angela Eagle has responded to our petition calling for an immediate halt to the final badger cull in Cumbria, Area 73. Her letter is polite. It acknowledges that many people find the killing of badgers deeply upsetting. It repeats Labour’s manifesto commitment to end the cull. It speaks of a new course in the fight against bovine TB. But the cull continues. After more than 250,000 badgers have been killed over the past decade, the central question remains unanswered. Where is the clear evidence that this policy worked? The Minister explains that the final licence in Cumbria will be subject to annual review before any decision is taken on its continuation in 2026. That may sound reassuring. It is not an end. It is not a suspension. It is simply a continuation under softer language. If a policy has resulted in a quarter of a million wild animals being shot and still cannot demonstrate clear success, the burden of proof no longer lies with those calling for it to stop. It lies with government to justify why it should continue. The letter also makes clear that Defra is scaling up badger vaccination, stating that studies show it is effective in controlling disease in badgers. The wording matters. Effective in badgers is not the same thing as reducing TB in cattle. The question has always been whether targeting badgers meaningfully reduces disease in cattle herds. There is still no clear, large scale evidence that widespread badger vaccination leads to measurable reductions in cattle TB breakdowns. Vaccination may sound kinder than culling, but if it keeps wildlife at the centre of the blame narrative, it does not fix the underlying problem. The Minister also refers to whole genome sequencing evidence and says that transmission runs both ways between cattle and badgers. Of course it can. Infection can pass between species. No one is denying that. But showing that disease can move between cattle and badgers is not the same thing as proving that badgers are driving the epidemic. Genetic studies can show that animals share similar strains of TB. They can suggest that infection has moved between species at some point. What they do not clearly show is how much of the ongoing crisis is actually being caused by badgers rather than by cattle infecting each other. That distinction matters. Because if the main engine of this epidemic sits within cattle farming systems, then targeting wildlife will never solve it. Even within the scientific literature, estimates vary. Different studies reach different conclusions. Many include important caveats. That is the reality of a complex disease. But it means this evidence cannot simply be treated as definitive justification for killing or vaccinating wildlife on a national scale. For over a decade, badgers have been cast as the villain in a story that is fundamentally about intensive cattle farming. About high density herds. About cattle movements. About testing failures. About an industry that expands and intensifies while wildlife is blamed for the consequences. We do not accept that framing. Our position is clear. Bovine TB is rooted in the structure of animal farming itself. Badgers have been scapegoated to protect a powerful industry. This is not about finding a middle ground between culling and vaccination. It is about ending the narrative that wildlife must suffer to prop up a farming system that refuses to confront its own structural failures. That is why we are continuing to push to end the badger blame game completely. We recently released a powerful new animation narrated by the brilliant Chris Packham, setting out the case plainly and unapologetically. The film makes one thing clear. This crisis did not begin with badgers. It began with cattle farming. And badgers have paid the price. More than 250,000 of them.  The government says wildlife measures are only a small part of the broader strategy. If that is truly the case, then ending the final cull should not be difficult. If wildlife is not central, stop targeting wildlife. What we have seen for twelve years is distraction. A political choice to focus on wild animals rather than confront the uncomfortable realities of intensive animal agriculture. Replacing culling with vaccination while keeping wildlife in the frame risks continuing that distraction. Labour promised to end the cull. The public expects clarity. An annual review is not clarity. It is hesitation. If the government truly wants to chart a new course, it should halt the final Cumbria cull immediately, remove wildlife from the centre of this debate, and confront the real driver of bovine TB head on. We will continue to campaign. We will continue to speak plainly. And we will continue to challenge the idea that killing or medicating wildlife is the answer to a crisis created by industrial farming. The badger blame game must end. Not softened. Not rebranded. Ended. Support the ongoing fight to protect BadgersWant to help fund our work? You can pick up a limited edition Badger pin badge today (designed by talented animator Ben Sinclair from Fire Lily Studio) and help power our campaigning.
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