The WAR ON WILDLIFE Project – Page 2 – Helping tackle the War On Wildlife

93% collapse of Europe’s migratory fish populations

Posted on July 31, 2020July 31, 2020 by Charlie

Populations of migratory freshwater fish species have plummeted globally by 76% on average since 1970, including a 93% collapse in Europe. The collapse in migratory freshwater fish populations is worse in Europe than any other continents. This data is part of an alarming regional trend. In the EU, 60% of rivers, lakes, wetlands and streams are currently not healthy, impacting on the quality and availability of water and the species populations they house, including freshwater fish species, birds, mammals and amphibians

France ordered to ban lime sticks

Posted on July 30, 2020July 30, 2020 by Charlie

The European Commission has just ordered France to enforce existing legislation banning the use of lime sticks or ‘glue traps’ to catch wild birds. The country has been given until October to definitively outlaw the practice. Under huge pressure from hunting lobby groups, France has used a rolling derogation on ‘glue traps’ in five south-east departments on the grounds that it is “traditional” (a familiar excuse that campaigners will recognise as having been used to justify everything from clubbing seals to hunting foxes and contributing to a near-terminal decline in the European population of Turtle Doves).

Two spaniels poisoned by ‘Nidderdale cocktail’

Posted on July 30, 2020July 30, 2020 by Charlie

This is what grouse shooting has brought us to: the burning of rare habitats, massive use of bird and mammal traps, illegal persecution of birds of prey, and now a spaniel killed by a mix of illegal poisons with its own nickname derived from the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the ‘Nidderdale Cocktail’, “a deadly mixture of chemicals including bendiocarb, alphachloralose and the banned pesticides carbofuran and isofenphos. None of these chemicals should ever be used in an environment where domestic animals and/or wildlife could come into contact with them.

York Council to ban burning on grouse moors

Posted on July 29, 2020July 30, 2020 by Charlie

This is turning into a ‘join-the-dots’ good news story, as York Council has now joined the Mayor of Doncaster and Calderdale and Wakefield Councils in proposing an end to grouse moor burning and pushing Defra to impose a ban that has been in the offing for years. As the numbers of grouse on each moor has exploded (as estates seek to make as much money as possible by cramming as many grouse onto the moors as they can) columns of smoke have become as much a part of the moorland landscape as mammal traps and ‘keep out’ signs. Does that really matter? It really does….

NE North America | About 94% of wild bee and native plant species networks lost

Posted on July 29, 2020July 28, 2020 by Charlie

A recent report from Toronto’s York University titled “Wild bee declines linked to plant-pollinator network changes and plant species introductions” was published in the journal Insect Conservation and Diversity last month. This report was perfectly summarised by EurekaAlert! under the heading “About 94 per cent of wild bee and native plant species networks lost, York study finds”. Their opening sentence is seriously concerning, given all that we now understand about the importance of pollinators and insects in general.

Wild Justice | Urgent request to email Scottish Ministers

Posted on July 28, 2020July 28, 2020 by Charlie

“We’re contacting you this evening to ask you to add your voice to the outcry over the death of this young eagle. Please take a few minutes to email both the Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, (firstminister@gov.scot) and Cabinet Secretary, Roseanna Cunningham (CabSecECCLR@gov.scot).
A large number of emails, polite emails, will undoubtedly make a difference. What you say is, of course, up to you but please say something.” Wild Justice, 28 July 2020

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