I’m sure you will remember my post in April about the death of my beautiful Lunar. Killed by illegal hunters on the field adjacent to my garden, the whole gruesome event was captured on my HD cameras, set up to film the local wildlife.
It was a very traumatic time and my blog had nearly 12,000 hits that night and 18,000 hits in the month of April when I wrote a follow-up post. I was overwhelmed by the response and the comments that were sent to me via my blog, website and Twitter.
If you would like to read more about the event, you can see my blog posts HERE and HERE.
Due to an ongoing investigation, I was unable to run the story earlier, but yesterday, I welcomed Elizabeth Glinka and cameraman, Pete from BBC Midlands Today, to my home to film a piece that I hoped would raise the profile of wildlife crime. Mark Joynson, from the Wildlife Crime Unit of Staffordshire Police also joined us.
My aim was to make the general public aware that illegal hunting with dogs is happening and that we need to be vigilant. If you see anything suspicious or are concerned about illegal practices in your area then the Wildlife Crime unit can be contacted using 101 or 999 in an emergency. I have been very impressed with how the police have dealt with this and, with DNA samples having been taken from Lunar’s body, we are still hoping that there is a chance that these guys will be brought to justice.
I have not watched the footage of Lunar’s death … I just lifted the footage for the police to use. Just watching the very beginning, before they caught her, was pretty distressing. I just hope running this story will mean that more people become aware of the Wildlife Crime Unit and the work they do in our county and counties all over the country.