Wildlife Crime

Chair: Dominic Dyer, Born Free
Vice-Chair: Craig Fellowes, Badger Trust
Link: Lisa Manning, Policy Officer

Update from the Group

Last updated 07.01.25. For more info contact lisa@wcl.org.uk

Wildlife crime inflicts avoidable suffering on wild animals, hinders nature's recovery and poses a threat to people. 

However, most wildlife crimes in England and Wales are not centrally recorded and the legislation enabling the prosecution of wildlife criminals is antiquated. The Wildlife Crime Group works to address these barriers to tackling wildlife crime, and to support the police and the Crown Prosecution Service in increasing wildlife crime convictions.   

Our annual reports show the scale of wildlife crime in England and Wales, and call on the Government to ensure this crime is recorded and tackled effectively.

The Group published their latest annual wildlife crime report in November 2024 covering statistics for 2023. Previous wildlife crime reports can be found here.