GWN Volunteers Appear on BBC News to Talk about Our Campaign to End Catapult Cruelty

You might have seen some familiar faces on BBC News today. Chris, a GWN volunteer, and Rae, GWN's founder, along with a fellow rescuer Danni from the Swan Sanctuary, were featured in a segment about the ongoing wave of violence against wildlife, perpetrated in parks and waterways on a daily basis by young men armed with catapults.

Whilst the GWN team doesn't love being on camera, we’re extremely grateful to the BBC for shining a spotlight on this issue. Rescues like ours have grown exhausted from dealing with animals that have been horrifically injured, orphaned, or killed for fun.

And make no mistake - it is for fun. It is not for food, as some have suggested on the BBC’s social media post today. The bodies of shot animals are usually left to rot. This is cruelty inflicted for pleasure, and increasingly, for online clout - filmed and shared on TikTok and Instagram.

For years, we’ve made fruitless police reports, pushing for proper investigation and prosecution, and for changes in the law so that under-18s cannot purchase and carry in public a weapon capable of firing solid metal projectiles at incredible force and speed.

The BBC has also produced an iPlayer documentary exploring just how dangerous catapults can be. Ballistic and medical experts compare their level of force to that of a hammer - in other words, potentially lethal.

So, here’s the question we want to leave you with:

Should under-18s have unlimited access to a potentially deadly weapon?

Watch the documentary here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/.../epi.../m002khwq/breakfast-08102025

A parliamentary petition has also been launched, and this time we're going to get to 100,000 signatures. Please visit and sign the petition here.

You can follow our End Catapult Cruelty Campaign via our website, www.endcatapultcruelty.com, and Facebook page: End Catapult Cruelty