Preserving Our Planet

People love their cats. From cute photos, to hilarious videos, Gifs and memes shared across social media, we can’t get enough of our favourite fur balls. And yet, life for their wild cousins couldn’t be bleaker. Recent statistics on big cat numbers The twenty first century has become an exponentially dangerous place for big cats to be. Of the 40 species of wild cats, roughly 80% are now in serious decline and 25 species are threatened with extinction. This includes some of our most iconic cats that are now in the midst of a desperate struggle for survival. Lions are now extinct in 26 of the countries they once inhabited. In May 2018, 54 lions were killed in just a few days on a farm in South Africa. There are now more lions on captive farms in South Africa than in the wild there. Males are particularly popular for hunting in Africa and it is estimated that of the 20,000 left in the wild, only 4,500 are male. Tiger numbers have plummeted by 96.8% in just 20 years Th...

Red deer in the Woburn Deer Park who boast of producing the  biggest antlers in Europe.  (Photo credit: Paul O'Connor) What is trophy hunting? Trophy hunting involves the paying of a fee to hunt an animal for ' the sole purpose of winning a part of its body as a ‘trophy ' , including antlers, heads, skin and bones. It is not something generally associated with the UK.  Woburn Estate herald their herd The Woburn Estate Deer Park was set up in 1993 with a vision to maximise the genetics of red deer and produce some of the biggest antlered red deer in the world. The deer are farmed for excellence and the semen of their sires sold. A quick visit to their website and their true intentions become unequivocal: they pride themselves on the size of the antlers, not the health of their deer. The males for sale are numbered, not named. They boast of the size and strength of the males, not the overall health of the herd. Woburn's Deer Park claims to be ...