Wildlife Crime FAQ's

We have wildlife legislation to prevent activities that threaten the survival of endangered species (e.g. prohibiting removal of beaver dams associated with lodges, or disturbing bat roosts) and to ensure higher standards of animal welfare (e.g. banning fox hunting and badger baiting).

However, in addition to the protections they offer wildlife, these laws also protect humans and society.  For example, wildlife crime can be an “entry level” crime that serves as a precursor to violence against humans (including domestic abuse and homicide).  There are also links between wildlife crime and international serious and organised crime; a 2023 report by Born Free found that international wildlife trafficking was one of the top four organised criminal activities alongside arms, drugs and human trafficking, and worth about £13.56 billion to the global economy each year.

There are many reasons why people might commit a wildlife crime.  These include:

• It is viewed as an ‘easy’ crime with low risk of being prosecuted but high likelihood of reward
• To acquire a desirable item (e.g. a rare bird’s egg) for their own personal collection
• For sport (e.g. fox hunting, hare coursing)
• For profit (e.g. to sell the specimen, or to place bets on the outcome of the sporting activity)
• As a perceived ‘necessity’ (e.g. to protect property or livelihoods)
• To increase social status (e.g. who has the fastest dog, or who can catch the most or biggest specimen of a particular type of animal)
• Belief that their action is for the greater good (e.g. releasing an endangered species to increase that species’ population size but without proper licences or authority)
• Lack of awareness of wildlife crime laws (e.g. due to the complexity of so many pieces of wildlife legislation, or nuances in legislation between the different UK nations).

The main legislation that governs wildlife crimes in the UK is the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended).  However, there are many other pieces of legislation that govern particular activities (e.g. the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975) or species (e.g. The Deer Act 1992). 

The Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime (PAW) is a group of statutory and non-governmental organisations that each have a responsibility towards wildlife crime enforcement.  Collectively, they investigate, prosecute and increase awareness of wildlife crime in the UK.  Another of their roles is to identify crimes that are the highest priorities to tackle.  However, this does not mean that other wildlife crimes are not investigated or prosecuted.  These priorities, the effectiveness of the interventions that have been used to enforce the laws, and new and emerging priorities are reviewed every two years.

Most wildlife crimes carry a maximum prison sentence of 6 months, and perpetrators can be issued with unlimited fines.  However, wildlife crimes are very hard to detect so often perpetrators will have committed many crimes before they are caught. Therefore, even relatively large fines will, in reality, be less than the reward perpetrators can accumulate across the course of their criminal career before they were caught.  This is why your support in reporting wildlife crime is so important so that the scale of the problem can be evidenced to government.  In turn that will hopefully mean more resources to give advice and raise awareness can be provided, as well as more resource for investigation and prosecution, and the severity of the sanctions can be elevated to match the severity of the crime.

One key issue at the moment is that wildlife crime is not a “notifiable offence”, which means it does not have to be included in national crime statistics or reporting.  Without evidence of the scale of wildlife crime as a problem, investigatory agencies cannot afford expert investigators and prosecutors cannot get the training they need to understand the specialist evidence being laid before them.  However, without these particular skillsets, fewer cases are being investigated or successfully prosecuted so the stats remain low.  In turn, this makes proving the need for the necessary resource very difficult.  It is a vicious cycle. The need to make sanctions more severe and appropriate to the seriousness of the crime is subject to campaigns by multiple wildlife NGOs, including the RSPB, RSPCA and Born Free. 

However, before that, another thing that is preventing wildlife crimes being treated with as much gravity as they should be is the genuinely low number of crimes reported to the police.  You can help by reporting anything you think is suspicious.

• There are so many bits of wildlife legislation so it may appear complicated – that is because it is!  But don’t worry, put simply, before doing anything with wildlife think “will this affect the animal, plant or fungus’s ability to survive?  If the answer is yes, or likely to be yes, don’t do it!  Better safe than sorry.
• If you see evidence of a wildlife crime, report it to the police.  If the crime is underway while you are there, it does class as an emergency and it is perfectly legitimate to call 999.  Otherwise, call 101 or report online to Avon and Somerset Wildlife Crime Unit.
• The NWCU and organisations like the RSPCA and RSPB sometimes run awareness-raising campaigns.  These provide information to the public about a specific type of wildlife crime, including signs to look out for and how to make reports.  They are a really good source of information if you want to learn more.

If you witness a wildlife crime taking place, call 999

For a non-emergency, call 101

If you would like to give information regarding a crime anonymously, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111

When reporting the event of a wildlife crime:

DO:

• Report any suspicious activity to your local police as soon as possible and ask to speak with their wildlife crime officer.  Do this even if you are unsure of the event - the evidence of wildlife crimes are not always obvious to see.
• Take notes of:
  • date, time and weather conditions.
  • the map reference of the scene of the incident.
  • a description of the person(s) involved in the incident, including the gender, age, height, clothing, etc.
  • any vehicle registration numbers, makes and models, as well as colours of vehicles that may be involved in the incident.
• If possible, photograph or video the scene, or if unable to do this make a rough sketch of the area.
• Try to identify other witnesses present to the incident and gather their name and contact details.
• Cover any suspected poisoned baits or victims to limit contact by other animals or people.

DON’T:

• Approach suspects or intervene if you suspect someone is committing a wildlife crime. Such actions may put you in unnecessary danger.
• Disturb the scene by moving items or walking about unnecessarily.
• Touch dead animals or birds, especially if you suspect poisons to be involved in the incident.