Welcome banner

Welcome to

Naturewatch Foundation

With your help we have been fighting to end acts of animal cruelty and improve animal welfare standards worldwide for over 30 years.

Since 1991, Naturewatch Foundation has campaigned passionately to end animal cruelty and advance animal welfare standards in the UK and worldwide.

With your help, we can keep making the world a kinder place for animals.

Please consider supporting our campaigns.

Donations and gifts in wills fund our work – there are always more animals to help and more cruelty to stop.

Together, we can make a real difference for animal welfare.

Our campaigns

Operation Recall

Livestock attacks by dogs are devastating. Find out more about what Operation Recall is trying to do to combat this.

Animal Welfare in Eastern Europe

We’ve been helping with Ukraine animal rescue and long-term improvements in stray animal management.

Protect Animals. Protect People

World Animal Day

Celebrated on October 4, find out ways to get involved.

Companion animal breeding

Ever thought about who breeds all our companion animals? Find out more.

Animal experiments

Find out more about animal experiments in the UK - and how you can help.

Wildlife crime

Find out more about wildlife crime.

What's new?

As an animal welfare charity with campaigns in the UK and beyond, it’s fair to say we have lots going on. Explore the latest news and updates from all of our current campaigns, find out about upcoming events and join our mailing list.

Actions and updates

In 2022 we made a submission to the UK consultation for sentencing of animal abuse offences.

In 2023 new guidelines were released that include animal abuse committed in front of children as a 'aggravating factor'. Details here…

In April 2023, we expanded our companion animals campaign to include cats and rabbits who are impacted by the low-welfare pet trade.

We’ve been reporting concerns about illegal cat and rabbit selling to the authorities thanks to your tip-offs.

We’ve been calling on the UK Government to come up with a plan for phasing out animal experiments.

In May 2025, we met with Lord Vallance and officials from the Office for Life Sciences to hear more about the UK government’s plans to release a phase-out strategy this year.

In 2023, we celebrated 30 years of helping ethical shoppers find cruelty-free brands in our Compassionate Shopping Guide.

For World Day for Animals in Laboratories (WDAIL) 2024, we launched our brand new Compassionate Shopping Guide website and our new look to help even more people shop cruelty-free.

We’ve been campaigning against canine fertility clinics and low-welfare breeding practices since 2021 and have provided evidence to MPs, governments in the UK and expert committees in our fight to improve regulation and enforcement of dog breeding.

In April 2024, MPs called for a crackdown on canine fertility clinics and unlicensed breeding. In the same year, the Animal Welfare Committee raised concerns that “canine breeding is currently inadequately and ineffectively regulated.”

In January 2024, we launched our first ever Pet Rescue Grant to help frontline animal welfare organisations rehabilitate dogs, cats and rabbits who’ve been impacted by the low-welfare pet trade.

For our second Pet Rescue Grant in 2025, we supported Hope Rescue, Bunnyjackpot Foundation, Second Chance Spaniel Rescue and Cat Supporters South Wales with grants. Read more here.

In August 2023, we launched our Force Control Room wildlife crime animated training package for police staff tasked with receiving wildlife crime reports from members of the public.

With over 5,500 police staff now trained, we are delighted to announce that our project won an award at the 2024 Charity Awards, one of the most prestigious awards schemes in the charity sector. You can read more about the award here.

In 2023, Operation Recall was launched to raise awareness of the devastating consequences of livestock worrying & attacks.

In 2024, over 25 UK police forces joined together for a national week of action to combat the issue and engage with their communities.

In 2023, the 44 websites run by police forces across England and Wales didn’t offer any advice to survivors of domestic abuse where pets had been harmed or threatened.

As of January 2025, all 44 forces in England and Wales forces have now updated their pages with this crucial information.

We wanted to ensure that all police officers were aware of how pets can be threatened, hurt or killed within domestic and child abuse, so we are collaborating with police forces to provide training and help update their internal safeguarding strategies.

So far, we have worked with the Metropolitan Police, who received our "Hogarths Award 2024" for their support, South Yorkshire Police, and Avon and Somerset Police - we are gradually reaching the others.

We wanted to make sure we made everyone aware of the harm that can be done to survivors of abuse when their pet is targeted.

We have participated in many podcasts, and our campaign has appeared on ITN News and Talk TV, as well as in the Sunday Express, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Policing Insight (The National Police Magazine), and other outlets.

We want to ensure that our campaign message is heard globally. In 2022, we presented to a subcommittee of the European Parliament about animals within domestic abuse.

Recital 39 of text P9_TA(2024)0338 has now been adopted and suggests all EU states include animals harmed within human abuse cases to be incorporated in legislation by May 2027

We want to advance animal welfare in as many countries as possible and deliver awareness training as widely as possible on the need to take crimes against animals seriously.

In 2024, we presented to a conference for the prosecutors and Supreme Court judges in Athens, Greece. We helped persuade senior policing and politicians to train police officers. We have also presented to the Global Scientific Guild based in India and reached the US-based newsletter of the National Link Coalition.

We want to reach MPs to explain why animal welfare matters.

Our campaign took us to Parliament during Domestic Abuse Awareness Month, where we ran an event with partners to reach political audiences. We plan to do the same this year. The 2024 King's Speech incorporated our plans with this campaign.

In June 2024, we launched the first-of-its-kind Dog Breeding Map of the UK to improve transparency about dog breeding and help puppy buyers make informed choices.

In early 2025, we expanded the map to cover the Republic of Ireland and exposed a shocking statistic: 4 in 5 UK dogs come from unknown, unregulated sources. We've sent urgent recommendations to every UK government.

In September 2023, we submitted evidence to the Scottish Government about the welfare risks associated with canine fertility clinics as part of their consultation on new animal welfare regulations.

In August 2024, the Scottish Government announced it would introduce a strict licensing framework for canine fertility businesses as soon as time allows.

Our wildlife crime investigators are regularly submitting quality, comprehensive information to police forces across England and Wales.

2025 has already seen numerous successful convictions, a testament to our collective efforts in protecting wildlife. These convictions serve as a strong message to those who disregard animal welfare.

With your support, we have contributed towards the National Wildlife Crime Unit’s online Badger persecution training video. This video, a crucial resource for law enforcement, equips officers with the knowledge and skills to combat badger persecution, a significant threat to our wildlife.

The training package has been rolled out across the UK. It is enabling police officers to initially learn and revisit the key investigation principles of badger persecution offences.

We are proud to partner with the National Rural Crime Network (NRCN). Our role is to advocate for protecting wildlife and domestic pets in rural areas, enhancing the network’s mission to improve community safety.

We are currently focusing on the worrying increase in the use of catapults and other weapons that harm wildlife and pets.

We’ve been campaigning for better transparency in animal testing so that the public can know all the facts.

In 2025, we launched our Forgotten Lives campaign to highlight the potentially hundreds of thousands of additional animals who are bred for British science each year and killed without being used in procedures. These hidden animals aren’t even acknowledged in official government statistics.

Leave a legacy

Your support can make a real difference in the fight against animal cruelty.

Find out more

Subscribe to our mailing list

and receive regular campaign updates straight to your inbox

Compassionate shopping

Support ethical brands. With our Compassionate Shopping Guide, you can buy with confidence.

Our online shop

Help support our work by purchasing from our range of cruelty free merchandise and partnership products.

How you can help

There are lots of ways to help with our work, from making a donation through to holding fundraising events or even getting involved as a volunteer. Below, you can explore the different ways to help us continue raising standards for animals.

Stand with us. Call on online retailers to stop selling catapults to under-18s

This simple step would reduce harm to wildlife. Help us deliver this message directly to retailers who can make a real difference.

Send us your message

Shhh, you’ve been silenced!

Protesting outside animal-testing facilities could soon result in arrest and up to 12 months in prison.
The UK Government is close to adding ‘Life Sciences infrastructure’ – essentially animal testing – to the Public Order Act 2023.
Act now: Members of the House of Lords MUST attend the Chamber to oppose the law change when this is debated.

Email the House of Lords

Protect Wildlife: Stop Catapult Sales to Under-18s

Weak laws leave our wildlife vulnerable and animal cruelty unchecked.

Urge the policing minister to back a ban on catapult sales to under-18s and help protect our animals.

Email the Policing Minister

The Forgotten Animals in Britain's Laboratories

Each year, millions of animals in Britain are bred for scientific research, but many are never used in experiments. The true number of these forgotten animals and their fate remain unrecorded by the UK government.

Let’s change this. Email your MP and urge them to stand up for these forgotten victims.

Email your MP

Be a voice for the voiceless

UK wildlife needs urgent protection, yet wildlife crime is often classified with minor offenses like littering. We are calling on the Government to amend the law to allow police to take effective action.

Join us in telling your local MP why a change in law is vital to protect our wildlife.

Email your MP

Let's give the household product testing ‘ban’ a makeover

Shockingly, many ingredients in household products are still tested on animals.

Join us in asking the UK Government to finally end animal testing for all everyday household products.

Sign our petition

Let’s end extreme cat breeding!

Unethical extreme designer pet trends are pushing cats and kittens to the limit.

Help protect our feline friends and join us in calling for extreme cat breeding to be banned across the UK.

Sign our petition

Have you been a victim of greed breeding?

If you’ve had a bad experience with a dodgy breeder or seller, we want to hear from you.

Complete our short survey and share your story.

Share your story

Take the lead and sign a pledge for animals!

Every year thousands of farm animals and wildlife are killed or injured by dog attacks.

Do you care for a dog and enjoy taking them to enjoy the countryside?

Take our RECALL pledge to keep your dog and grazing animals safer.

Sign our pledge

Donate to Naturewatch Foundation

We don’t have government or corporation funding, which means we rely on your generosity to continue our work.

Your donations have made a real difference so far. But there are always more animals to help and more cruelty to stop.

Donate now

Other ways
that you can help

From volunteering, to fundraising, to even donating your old jewellery or unwanted stamps – there are a whole host of ways you can get involved to help us make the world a kinder, fairer place for animals.

See how you can help