Polecats: Masked Raiders (2011)

At the beginning of the 20th century, Polecats were on the very brink of extinction in Britain yet only half a century before they had been one of the most widespread predators in the country. What happened to cause such a dramatic decline? Internationally renowned natural history film producer Mike Salisbury and award winning cameraman Geoff Gartside team up to tell this fascinating and sometimes moving story - a story of persecution, trapping and killing on an industrial scale and all because of a bird. On 19th century British shooting estates, pheasants were reared to be shot in their millions and no mercy was shown in protecting these birds from any predator drawn to them. This dramatised film is a story of man against animal and tells of a time when not only polecats but other carnivores and birds were ruthlessly exterminated from the land. All classed as vermin, a price was put on their head. The film vividly brings to life the remorseless battle between gamekeeper and animal as a polecat mother struggles to feed her family of seven kits.