Survey responses 2023 (1)

Two years ago we sent out a survey through our newsletter and summarised the responses in five blogs over the Easter period. This year we have repeated the process, almost exactly (we dropped one question and refined another), and we’ll tell you the results in this and a following blog post.

We received 7219 responses in a week! Question 8 allowed you to write anything you liked about Wild Justice and just under 5000 respondents took that opportunity – we have read every single response. Thank you for all the feedback.

In this post, and the following one, we refer to the respondents to the survey as Wild Justice supporters. That seems fair enough since over 96% of respondents described themselves as supporters of one sort or another. That is a bit of a contrast to two years ago when we received hundreds of responses from people, often claiming to be shooters, who took the opportunity to berate us often with considerable rudeness. That type of response was missing this time around – perhaps because such people realised that their opinions might be published in this feedback and might not reflect well on the pastimes they claimed to enjoy.

At a very high level the results are:

  • Wild Justice supporters are spread right across the UK and a small proportion of you live abroad.
  • Wild Justice supporters are getting on a bit – >50% aged 65+ and >80% aged 55+ (just like us!)
  • Wild Justice supporters are slightly more likely to be female, 55%, than male (44%) or ‘other or prefer not to say’ (1%)
  • Wild Justice supporters eat less meat than the general public; 26% never, 28% 1-2 times a week
  • Wild Justice supporters see themselves as supporters of a wide range of other conservation organisations with RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts the most popular overall – very low support for BASC, a pro-shooting organisation
  • Wild Justice supporters are first of all wildlife conservationists, second environmentalists and lastly interested in animal welfare (of course most people are a complex mixture of all three)
  • Over two thirds of respondents (68%) describe themselves as active supporters of Wild Justice (signing petitions, writing to MPs etc, donating) and an additional 7% would like to become more active still.

Where do our newsletter subscribers live?

England 82%

Scotland 9%

Wales 6%

Outside UK >1%

UK (no other details) 1%

Northern Ireland <1%

But we can do better than that, because you gave us your postcodes:

How old are our newsletter subscribers?

And your gender?

Are you meat eaters?

Which of these organisations do you also support?

Here are some of the things, representative examples, of what you said about Wild Justice in general:

  • You are doing a fantastic job in the face of overwhelming threats to our environment and wildlife. Please continue with your good work.
  • Thank you for your persistence in protecting wildlife and habitats
  • So wonderful that you exist! Your work is essential – please keep going!
  • I find supporting Wild Justice more ‘real’ than other charities who tend to ‘pussy foot around’ and pretend that we can solve the climate and biodiversity loss crises. I think that probably the most productive way to fight for these causes is through the courts. So I like what Wild Justice does. I like the fact that sometimes you win cases. You’re prepared to go back to court. At the very least you raise the profile of issues which are not widely known about. I am educated by you. I like your no-nonsense, clear, personable, emails. (I don’t do Twitter). I hope I have managed to introduce you to a few other people.
  • Your work gives hope in a world where most things man-made seems to be awful for the natural world. Please continue.
  • I totally support your aims and what you do. If I was younger I would be more active, but that is not possible. The pressure you exert on government and other agencies to be more wildlife and animal aware is absolutely vital to the survival of our planet.
  • Compared to other charities I support such as WWF and RSPB, it is small but powerful. Keep on fighting!
  • I am very glad you exist, you give me hope and belief that there are people who care, you are showing that things can change
  • You annoy all the right people. Please keep doing what you are doing. Our money is being well spent.
  • I’m really pleased that Wild Justice exists – daliwch ati!
  • Really feel your battles with “authority” are worthwhile especially those concerning the environment like sewage dumped in rivers, the value of the SSSI’s etc. 
  • Nobody else does what you do or even gets close. For god’s sake keep at it.
  • Your work is needed badly. Corruption and incompetence by govt bodies demand that you expose them.
  • Wild Justice has begun to highlight and solve the problems that most wildlife charities have failed to address. The more you do the more support I shall give, because the law-makers will do nothing for wildlife or the environment unless you shine a light on their dreadful policies.
  • I love Wild Justice’s proactive approach to supporting our wildlife and environment. They have really bought home to me how little is being done by the government and landowners. 
  • I enjoy the spirit and energy of Wild Justice. 
  • I think that you are doing a brilliant job in spite of a lack of interest from the Government in doing anything which upsets their mates.

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