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:
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
RSPCA impounds wild badger
When Morgan Myers decided to help a sick young badger he found close to his home, he had no idea it would lead to a
Racster Dingwall trial
In the first case of its kind, former gamekeeper Racster Dingwall pleaded guilty at York Magistrates Court to conspiring to commit wildlife crime. The RSPB
‘Suspicious’ harrier death was bird flu – Fieldsports News, 11 February 2026
Here are the links: ‘Missing’ hen harrier died naturally – Facebook Eat Game Awards finalists – BASC BBC backs venison – BBC Packham attacks hunting
Shooters urged to contact MPs ahead of gun law debate – Fieldsports News, 4 February 2026
Here are the links: MPs to debate firearms licensing – MP’s contact details Members.parliament.uk – and show them this petition Petition.parliament.uk Scotland’s Environment Bill watered down
Do British shooters need drug tests?
When Powys police started asking shooters to provide drug tests as part of their shotgun and firearms certificate applications, it sent shockwaves through the world
African nations slam Labour’s trophy ban – Fieldsports News, 28 January 2026
www.youtube.com/watch?v=22zvtFZrZAI Here are the links: Trophy ban ‘would harm Africa’s animals and villagers’ – Daily Mail Making money out of venison – TheBittescombeInn.com and FieldsportsChannel.tv/high-fiving-foxshooters
Tax blow could finish Scottish sporting estates – Fieldsports News, 21 January 2026
Here are the links: Scotland plans to hammer sporting estates – BASC Mass poaching bust on the Fens – YouTube RSPB ‘bird crime’ reports rubbished
Trump government weighs in on UK hunting trophy imports
The US government has written to the UK’s environment department DEFRA to ask it not to ban trophy imports. A letter from Doug Burgum, US
