The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has published the Government’s response to the report on Wildlife Crime.
Would you like to appear on our site? We offer sponsored articles and advertising to put you in front of our readers. Find out more.In it, the Government has rejected calls from MPs to give funding certainty to the National Wildlife Crime Unit, and will not be banning the use of carbofuran, despite the possession of the poison being illegal in Scotland.
The chair of the EAC, Joan Walley MP, said: “The Government has missed an opportunity to take two simple measures to protect important wildlife threatened by poachers and criminals in the UK.”
The Government also refused to impose an offence of vicarious liability in relation to raptor persecution, saying that, though there were no plans to introduce similar offences in England or Wales, it will be: “Looking closely at how the new offences in Scotland work in practice, and once prosecutions begin to be brought forward, it will be possible to start to assess the impact that the introduction of this legislation has made.”
BASC calls for delay to the Scottish government’s muirburn licensing scheme amid concerns from practitioners over the code’s workability.
Following countryside organisations’ campaigning, penalties for illegal coursing have increased, with average fines up from £360 to £6,000