Your support is helping protect Britain's gannets
There’s encouraging news for one of Britain’s most remarkable seabirds. And your support is helping build the case for lasting protection.
This year, NatureScot refused a licence for the guga hunt on Sula Sgeir, a remote island off the coast of Lewis. It means hundreds of young gannets will be spared from the annual hunt in 2026.
But the threat hasn’t disappeared.
A unique exemption in the Wildlife and Countryside Act still allows gannets to be killed on Sula Sgeir. In 2025, a licence allowed 500 young birds to be killed, and future hunts could still be licensed.
Your donations help keep this issue in front of decision-makers, funding the campaigning needed to speak up for these birds and their welfare.
Your support can help turn this year’s reprieve into lasting change.
By funding this work, you’re helping push for the legal loophole to be closed for good. The next step is pressing the Scottish Government to agree to a timetable for change.
Your support keeps animal welfare on the political agenda and gives these birds a stronger voice – helping bring closer the day when gannets on Sula Sgeir have the permanent protection they deserve.
You’re helping deer find safety – and woodland take root
As the annual red deer breeding season approaches, stags are on the move. And some will make their way onto the League Against Cruel Sports’ wildlife reserves, where females will be waiting for them.
A majestic red deer stag
Thanks to your support, they can find something else here too – a safe place where wildlife is protected.
Earlier this year, the UK government published its 10-year plan for controlling the growing deer population in England. Disappointingly, its emphasis is on creating more opportunities to kill deer.
Your support makes a different approach possible on League wildlife reserves.
We don’t cull deer. We will only intervene when there is an obvious animal welfare problem, just as we would for an injured fox or buzzard. This approach appears to be working well – deer numbers on the reserves have remained stable for the past couple of decades.
But protecting deer is only part of the story.
With your help, the reserves are also places where new trees can take root and grow. And that presents an interesting challenge, because deer and young trees can make uneasy neighbours.
Rather than removing the deer, we protect vulnerable young trees with fenced enclosures and individual tree guards until they are large enough to withstand browsing. Not every sapling will survive – nature rarely offers guarantees – but planting schemes established over the years are now thriving.
A roe deer nestles between trees protected from browsing by tree guards.
Your support gives back to wildlife for years to come.
As the trees mature, they provide food and shelter for an extraordinary range of life – from lichens and mosses to insects, birds and mammals. Deer themselves are naturally woodland animals. They shelter beneath trees and browse their lower branches, while the paths they trample through scrub can open up new habitats for other wildlife.
The trees growing on the reserves bring benefits beyond wildlife too. Their roots help stabilise the soil and slow water run-off, while growing trees absorb carbon from the atmosphere and store it.
Because you support the League’s wildlife reserves, there is room for both.
Your support means trees can continue to take root and grow, while deer have the sanctuary they need – including protection from the hunts.