Animal welfare issues are more likely to be reported on in the mainstream media if they relate to deliberate or illegal harm being done to certain types of wild animals.

That is the conclusion reached by experts from Oxford University, who analysed mainstream media reporting on wild animal welfare issues. The Oxford researchers looked at which welfare issues were covered by UK news media, and how the coverage was framed in 2014.

They found that wild animal welfare issues such as culling, shooting and hunting received the most media attention, and were reported most often by media outlets. Whereas unintended impacts on wild animals - like the impacts of light pollution, environmental pollution or debris in the worlds’ oceans affecting marine life were covered less often. In fact, welfare threats to marine animals weren’t reported on very often at all.

Dr. Ruth Feber, who led the work, said, "Some [human] activities are carried out with a clear intention to harm the target animal, such as culling, gassing and poisoning. Other issues, like habitat loss and light pollution, may cause harm unintentionally. However, our results suggest that media coverage does not necessarily reflect the severity or importance of the different issues.

"It is not obvious what drives these editorial preferences. It is possible, for example, that reporters prefer to highlight illegal issues because they believe the public will be more concerned about issues that are already judged by society to be wrong. However, it is not difficult to see that, despite the clear and present danger that they pose, certain wild animal welfare issues are being under-reported in the media."

One example of a focus on certain species is culling; in 2014, 715 mainstream media articles were published which looked at wildlife. More than 82% of these dealt with badger culling - perhaps not a surprise given the controversial, and ongoing badger culls in the south of England. However, less than 1% of all 715 articles with culling as a central theme looked at other iconic wildlife species, like foxes, moles or rabbits, put together.

The researchers also found that celebrity engagement with a specific animal welfare issue was also more likely to generate media attention. For example, Princess Anne's suggestion in 2014 that gassing was the most humane way of controlling badgers created a surge of media interest. Almost three-quarters of the articles relating to badger gassing either included or mentioned her comment.

Professor David Macdonald, Director of WildCRU and a co-author of the paper commented, "What is written in the papers, and reported in the media, really matters! It matters because it informs peoples' opinions, and opinions underlie their decisions on how society should be.

“It turns out that with regard to the welfare of British wildlife, press coverage misses a lot of important issues, and thus sadly misses opportunities to inform public opinion and lead societal change. It is concerning that important stories may not be picked up despite their importance or the level of suffering they reflect. We hope this study will highlight and encourage media coverage of wild animal welfare issues that have previously been overlooked."