Animal welfare consultant Jim Barrington goes on a tour of hare poaching victims in the Eastern Counties of England. With poachers damaging crops and farm equipment, it is up to gamekeepers to defend the land. Tony Blair’s 2004 ban on coursing was meant to have stopped this. Jim meets gamekeepers Geoff Garrod and Ed Coles and hears first hand how Blair’s ban has failed.
Click here for Ed Coles’ petition to increase poaching sentences
More news stories:

Starmer’s cash bonanza for birdwatchers – Fieldsports News, 8 April 2026
Here are the links: Starmer splashes £90m on birdwatching groups – Gov.uk Perthshire farmer hands out two tonnes of free venison – Fairfeast.co.uk Rat up

Trailhunters hit back at Starmer ban plan – Fieldsports News, 1 April 2026
Here are the links: Starmer lashes out at trail hunters – Countryside Alliance and Gov.uk Antis fear Starmer will allow most hunting with hounds – The

Starmer declares war on shooting – Fieldsports News, 25 March 2026
Here are the links: Labour’s shooting ban bonanza – Gov.uk, DEFRA and Gov.uk Cops chase poacher vehicle – Facebook Nature.scot gannet hunt protest – Daily Record Phil

Dogwalkers get farmer arrested
A farmer tells dog walkers to get back on the footpath – and ends up in a cell for eight hours, while police grab his

Cash for chillers – Fieldsports News, 18 March 2026
Here are the links: Government hands out deer chiller cash – BASC DEFRA uses bird flu as stick to beat shoots – NGO Welsh Labour

The real cost of gun licensing delays
Firearms licensing delays don’t just frustrate shooters, they hurt the sport and businesses like shops and grounds. We visit Sporting Targets in Bedfordshire – one

Bank blocks rifle purchase – Fieldsports News, 11 March 2026
Here are the links: Lloyds Bank freezes shooter’s accounts – Lloyds Bank Starmer’s lead ban timetable – BASC Scottish sporting rates climbdown – Countryside Alliance

BASC challenges gamebird release restrictions – Fieldsports News, 4 March 2026
Here are the links: BASC clears first fence in Natural England judicial review – BASC Government looks at knife licensing – BASC Mods to come

How replicas will stymie Starmer’s trophy import ban
The SCI Convention 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee, shows off all that’s best and biggest in hunting, sporting guns and taxidermy. A major theme this year

Green light for night-shooting deer with thermal – Fieldsports News, 25 February 2026
Here are the links: New deer night-shooting general licence – Gov.uk Back off hunting, Labour lords urge Starmer – FarmingUK.com Court orders huntsman’s horn flattened

MPs reject shotgun licensing proposals
It wasn’t so much a debate, more a pile-on. In Westminster Hall on Monday 23rd February 2026, 24 MPs from across the political spectrum spoke

Shotgun licensing debate looms – Fieldsports News, 18 February 2026
Here are the links: Shooting community gears up for Westminster debate – Parliament.uk, Countryside Alliance and BASC Preserve grouseshooting’s ‘intangible culture’ – OurUplandLivingHeritage.com Town councillor slams

