A New Year, the Same Cruelty: Catapult Attacks Are Out of Control

Over Christmas, we made a conscious decision not to fill people’s feeds with graphic images or distressing updates on our campaign to End Catapult Cruelty. We didn’t want to taint what little peace many people get at that time of year.

But it is now the new year, and we have to be honest about the reality we face every single day at Greenwich Wildlife Network.

Catapult attacks on wildlife across Bexley and South East London are completely out of control.

Throughout December - nearly every day - reports continued to come in. While many people were celebrating, groups of local youths were out in parks and green spaces maiming and killing animals for entertainment. That behaviour did not slow down over Christmas, and it has not slowed down since.

Despite a growing campaign, widespread community anger, and countless reports to the police, nothing has meaningfully changed. The same individuals return to the same parks night after night.

Animals are shot, blinded, left with shattered bones and open wounds, or killed outright. In many cases, these acts are shared on TikTok and other platforms, sometimes with faces and names clearly visible. Little happens when these are forwarded to the police.

The government has now responded to our petition calling for the regulation of catapults. Despite early signs that wildlife crime might finally be taken more seriously - such as proposals around banning trail hunting - their response is as disappointing as ever. It claims that no further action is needed because existing laws around protecting wildlife and preventing antisocial behaviour are already sufficient.

They are not.

This is demonstrated daily. If the laws worked, we would not be seeing the same offenders returning to the same locations again and again, with complete impunity. Even recording themselves committing the crimes, they feel so untouchable.

In just recent weeks we have dealt with:

• Four starlings killed in one day in Bromley - a red-listed species already in serious decline

• Two wood pigeons and two parakeets killed in the same incident

• Youths repeatedly targeting roosting parakeets at Danson Park, shooting them from trees night after night

• Birds recovered from Priory Gardens with clear catapult or pellet injuries

• Ice cubes being used as ammunition, presumably so the evidence melts away

This is what “existing laws” look like in practice. Do they sound like they're working to you?

We are asking, once again, for your help. Even if you have already signed, please share our petition calling for the regulation of catapults and for meaningful consequences for those who use them to harm animals. Wildlife is being horrifically injured and killed every single day, and pretending this is already being dealt with does not make it so.

The community is tired. The evidence is overwhelming. And we are not going to stop speaking out until this cruelty is taken seriously.

Sign our petition to End Catapult Cruelty