A company near Glastonbury has come under fire for selling “cruel” safaris where hunters can pay to kill baboons, monkeys, elephants, giraffes, and zebras. ProStalk, based in Baltonsborough, six miles from Glastonbury, offers a range of packages specialising in trophy hunts across Africa, reports the Mirror. Prices range from £875 to more than £8,000 with […]
Tag: gamekeeper
A murder of crows: Chris Packham and the countryside war over bird killings
To a surprising extent, to know the crow is to know ourselves,” says John Marzluff in the preface to In the Company of Crows and Ravens. After all, “crows and people share similar traits and social strategies”. Crows and their relatives have captured human imaginations since the paleolithic period, when they were depicted in cave […]
Seven in 10 hen harriers in UK study likely illegally killed
Hen harriers are 10 times more likely to die or disappear from or near to English grouse moors than any other habitat, according to a long-term study which reveals the scale of the illegal persecution of the endangered raptor. An analysis of hen harriers over a decade found 72% of 58 satellite-tagged birds were confirmed […]
Pine marten spotted in Kielder forest for first time in 90 years
The pine marten, a fearsome but diminutive predator driven to extinction in England, has returned to the country’s largest forest for the first time since 1926. Stills and video from a camera trap have recorded a mature pine marten devouring peanut butter put out for red squirrels at a secret location in Kielder forest, Northumberland. […]
Scotland’s mountain hare population is at just 1% of 1950’s level
Culling by grouse moor managers is being blamed for the drastic decline of mountain hares on eastern Scottish moorlands to less than 1% of the level recorded more than 60 years ago. A long-term study by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the RSPB analysed counts of the animals on moorland managed for red […]
POLL: Should there be a tough crack down on the killing of raptors?
Grouse moors are to blame for persecuting endangered birds of prey in the Scottish Highlands and Uplands, according to a wildlife crime expert. Ian Thomson, the head of investigations at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland, said data from 77 birds of prey that had been satellite-tagged showed a direct correlation between […]
POLL: Should wildlife crime be enforced by tougher legislation?
Almost 200 reports of shooting, trapping and destruction of birds of prey were received by the RSPB in 2015, the charity said. Some 64 out of the 196 reports were confirmed, including the shooting or attempted shooting of 46 birds of prey, including 16 buzzards, 11 peregrines, three red kites, one red-footed falcon and one […]
Another Hen Harrier shot dead sparking fears for rare bird of prey
Detectives at Cumbria Police have opened a full criminal investigation into the fatal shooting of one of the bird of prey, called Rowan. Last year there were just six successful hen harrier nests resulting from 12 attempts in England. But this year the RSPB says there are only three nests known to be currently in […]