Tag: wildlife crime

Suffolk police and the Wildlife & Countryside Act

Posted on March 3, 2021March 14, 2021 by Charlie Moores

The following blog post was sent to us on behalf of Suffolk-based George Millins, and highlights an issue that we have highlighted many times on this site: wildlife legislation ONLY EVER protects wildlife when it is enforced. If the agencies supposed to be enforcing the law (in this case Suffolk police) don’t know or understand the legislation (the Wildlife & Countryside Act), that protection is often lost and important species destroyed. While the site involved here may have been small, as the post points out, the slow-worms and common lizards present on it were supposed to be protected from killing and injury by the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981.

Grouse moors | licencing slaughter

Posted on August 28, 2020January 22, 2021 by Charlie Moores

Licencing is touted as a way of controlling the chaos and dead wildlife of the grouse shooting industry. It would, apparently, involve a shoot obtaining an operational licence from a regulator which would, at minimum, have conditions attached mandating the shoot follows wildlife and environmental protection codes of practice and laws. Where there is evidence suggesting that a shoot has failed to follow those conditions the licence can be withdrawn, even if the evidence pointing to criminality is less than sufficient to merit criminal proceeding. Which sounds sort of reasonable, but let’s think about what that actually means for wildlife for a moment…

Egg thief Jeffrey Lendrum denied early release

Posted on June 22, 2020March 2, 2021 by Charlie Moores

Following the press-release last week that Peregrine eggs had been taken from three sites in the Peak District during lockdown, some better news for the UK’s nesting birds: Jeffrey Lendrum, perhaps the world’s most notorious egg thief, has lost a bid to be released from a UK prison after serving part of a 37-month sentence for trying to smuggle nineteen eggs and two live chicks (worth up to £8,000 each on the black market) into Britain for export to the Middle East.

Peregrine falcon eggs taken from three sites in Peak District

Posted on June 16, 2020October 19, 2020 by Charlie Moores

As was widely reported wildlife crime has rocketed during the country’s lockdown and many ongoing investigations are focussed on land managed for grouse shooting. Much of the crime spree has been credited to gamekeepers taking advantage while the public remained indoors. But it appears that egg thieves have been out and about too (though of course – and this is purely idle speculation, m’lud – the two groups could be one and the same: some gamekeepers have been getting rid of Peregrines for decades so why not flog the eggs to falconers rather than just stamping on them?)

While we were in lockdown, the wildlife criminals were out in force

Posted on May 22, 2020May 24, 2020 by Charlie Moores

It was feared (or suspected) that wildlife criminals would exploit the Covid-19 lockdown to ramp up illegal killing while monitors and field workers were obeying the rules and staying inside. Latest figures released by the RSPB show that the wildlife criminals have indeed been out in force, selfishly and illegally turning their guns and poisons on raptors. It seems they just can’t stop themselves. Which makes it way past time we stopped them instead.

Press Release: Wildlife criminals taking advantage of COVID-19 crisis

Posted on April 14, 2020 by Charlie Moores

“Criminals are using the COVID-19 pandemic as cover for a significant increase in wildlife crime in Central and Eastern Europe. In March alone, in total at least 27 protected birds of prey were illegally killed in Austria and another three in neighbouring Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Several other suspected cases are still being investigated and clarified, while the number of unreported cases is likely to be much higher.” Press Release from WWF Austria

Derbyshire: urban peregrine shot

Posted on March 6, 2020March 6, 2020 by Charlie Moores

Yet another urban Peregrine shot. Peregrines are fully protected by law but, writes Charlie Moores, this is the second time in just five years that someone has shot a Peregrine falcon in Belper, Derbyshire. We also have an exclusive statement from Ed Drewitt, who was part of the team that ringed this same bird in Dorset in 2013.

Nesting birds and the law

Posted on March 2, 2020March 5, 2021 by Charlie Moores

Here’s a relevant question for the springtime: did you know that it is illegal – ie it is against the law – to disturb nesting birds or to remove any nests that are being used? That includes the birds and nests in our gardens, the birds that are nesting precisely where developers want to build new houses, and the birds that may try to nest on those (and our) houses too. If the answer is ‘No’ or even ‘Yes…but I’m not sure of the details’, hopefully this post will help.

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