November 2022
With COP27 having just finished you may feel disappointment over a lack of decisive action against climate change and for the natural world. Unfortunately, the annual report from Wildlife and Countryside Link’s wildlife crime group carries little in the way that might cheer you up – with levels of crimes for 2021 including raptor persecution still at record levels following a surge during 2020.
Given how honest the address from Alok Sharma at COP27 was from a British perspective, I actually write this blog on tackling wildlife crime with some optimism. Sharma’s uncompromising calls for action make me think that this year’s report could be the start of the journey to the UK Government listening to our call to make a number of wildlife crimes notifiable.
What that means is that the UK Government would ensure that Police Forces in England and Wales would be duty bound to officially report these wildlife crimes to the Home Office for official statistics.
For the three years I was head of the National Wildlife Crime Unit I was asked by several Defra Ministers how many wildlife crimes occurred in Britain and I had to tell them, “I don’t know”. The reason being is that even in the twenty-first century I could not push a button that would tell me the number of wildlife crimes occurring. Why? Because Police forces are not obliged to report wildlife crimes that in essence are not considered serious enough. Therefore, it is impossible to get a true reflection of the extent of wildlife crime that could then inform British Policing about the strategic threat that is posed to some of our most treasured wildlife such as Bats, Raptors and other protected species.
The nearest one ever gets to achieving some perspective is through the likes of the annual Wildlife and Countryside Link wildlife crime report and the RSPB’s bird crime report. Link now has a paper
submitted to the National Crime Registrar at the Home Office to make a total list of thirteen offences notifiable in order to establish a more accurate picture of the extent of wildlife crime. Of course, this would be reliant on the fact that all Police control room staff would be trained in identifying and recording appropriately all wildlife crime when reported. This is a challenge that will need addressing, along with each Force in England and Wales needing sufficiently trained officers to effectively investigate the crimes. I therefore hope that a response from the Home Office will be forthcoming in the near future.
This year’s report from Link also highlights that for wildlife crime to be effectively addressed, there needs to be a reform of much of the wildlife legislation and for effective resourcing within wildlife law enforcement. So much of the wildlife law currently on statute is outdated and not effective as a deterrent. Indeed, some of it is soon to celebrate its two hundredth year on the statute books. In 2015, the Law Commission review on wildlife crime recommended much of the current legislation be encompassed into one act. Six years later and the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, made recommendations to support that same view and for the Government to act on the Commission’s review. So, within the past seven years there have been two reports making clear recommendations on what the UK Government should be doing – yet there has been no action.
Yes, the Government has an “animal welfare action plan” but what has that meaningfully achieved since it was published eighteen months ago? Well it has done some things that relate to domestic animals but I would argue has done very little for wild animals and it is about time they did. So come on Government, turn words into actions now!
Martin Sims is chair of Wildlife and Countryside Link’s wildlife crime working group, and former head of the National Wildlife Crime Unit
The opinions expressed in this blog are the authors' and not necessarily those of the wider Link membership.
Banner image: ©National Trust Images| John Millar
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