Confirmed incidents of the illegal persecution of birds of prey have fallen to their lowest levels for more than a decade, according to the latest RSPB Birdcrime report. But the conservation charity warned that the reduction in incidents to 61 in 2022 is distorted by a failure to examine dead raptors caught in the avian […]
Tag: Partridge
Pheasant meat sold for food found to contain many tiny shards of toxic lead
Eating pheasant killed using lead shot is likely to expose consumers to raised levels of lead in their diet, even if the meat is carefully prepared to remove the shotgun pellets and the most damaged tissue. A study has found that pheasants killed by lead shot contain many fragments of lead too small to detect […]
Game over for UK shooting season as bird flu and Brexit take a heavy toll
Bird flu has managed to do to game shooting what animal rights activists have been trying to achieve for decades – with a little help from Brexit. Dozens of pheasant and partridge shoots have been called off ahead of the shooting season after an unprecedented outbreak of avian flu in France left gamekeepers in the […]
Essex mega-prisons pose threat to rare wildlife, warn environmentalists
Campaigners have criticised plans to develop two mega-prisons on the site of a rare bird and amphibian habitat in England. The government has been accused of reneging on commitments in the Environment Act to stop the decline of wildlife by proposing the development on the old Wethersfield airfield, which has become an important space for […]
Norfolk white-tailed eagle reintroduction project cancelled
A pioneering project to return white-tailed eagles to Norfolk for the first time in 200 years has been cancelled at the last minute to the dismay of conservationists. The UK’s largest birds of prey were to be released at Wild Ken Hill, the estate that is home to the BBC’s Autumnwatch programme, from next year, […]
Israel to ban hunting of quail, place 3-year ban on hunting turtle doves
Israel is set to extend wildlife protections to two types of birds, banning the hunting of turtle doves for three years and banning the hunting of quail altogether, Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg announced Wednesday. The move to ban hunting of turtle doves for three years comes at the request for the Convention on the […]
Activists sue ministers over release of game birds for shooting
Conservationists are suing the UK government over the release of millions of game birds on to land that is home to rare and threatened species. The campaign group Wild Justice has accused ministers of breaching their legal duties to protect sites of high conservation value in England by failing to control the use of large […]
Game birds subject to ‘cruel’ conditions, undercover footage shows
Pheasants whose chicks are destined to be shot in the UK are having their septums pierced in order to attach plastic masks to their beaks, according to an undercover film released by activists this week. The method of restraint is illegal in the UK. The video, shot on a farm in Poland, also appears to […]