League welcomes wildlife crime inquiry
The League has thrown its weight behind a new government inquiry into the scale of wildlife crime in the UK.
Initiated by the Environment Audit Committee, the inquiry will examine the role of government and other bodies in England and Wales in detecting, recording, preventing and prosecuting crimes against wildlife. This will include species and habitat destruction and illegal trade in wildlife products.
The announcement made today follows on from a report in 2004 which highlighted wildlife crime as a low priority and as a result procedures for tackling it were underdeveloped. The inquiry will look at how wildlife crime has changed since then and to what extent legislation is ‘fit for purpose’ to deal with crimes of this nature.
The League’s chief executive Joe Duckworth said: “We are delighted that the Committee has recognised that the way we deal with wildlife crime in this country needs to be reviewed. This approach goes hand in hand with the direction the League is currently moving in allowing us to be at the forefront of tackling wildlife crime in the field. We wholeheartedly support the inquiry and will be cooperating fully in the process”.
The League is expanding its operations team and will shortly begin recruitment of a further ten investigations officers.