Trapping Laws

Trapping Laws in England and Wales

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Trapping Laws in Scotland

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Laws Failing Wildife

Wildlife legislation, including that relating to snares, is extremely difficult to enforce for a number of reasons.

Firstly, weaknesses and ambiguities in the legislation frequently hamper investigations by the police and other prosecuting authorities.

Secondly, the use of snares is difficult to monitor when many are used on private land, in isolated locations and away from public scrutiny.

Thirdly, enforcement powers available to the police are limited, compounded by the lack of police resources in many rural areas. Indeed, many police forces are coming under increasing pressure to divert resources away from wildlife crime to prioritise on offences that are notifiable.

Fourthly, Police Wildlife Officers!

A Word of Warning... Treat Police Wildlife Officers With Caution

Regrettably several Police Wildlife Officers have strong links with bloodsport groups. In January 2007, a serving Police Wildlife Officer (PWO) advised a bloodsport group on how its members could illegally sabotage anti-hunt video evidence of illegal hunting. This PWO is connected to game bird shooting.

Needless to say his bosses have turned a blind eye to this. However, his actions have undermined the work and public trust in genuine PWOs who care passionately about the job but get little support from their managers and carry out investigations in their own freee time.

The position of Police Wildlife Officer attracts bloodsport fanatics from within the police. It opens up whole new possibilities to participate in bloodsports which their salary alone wouldn't afford them. Typically they are also members of bloodsport groups such as the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), a group that tries to foster close links with the police.

Such officers see their role as protecting shooting and hunting interests rather than addressing the worse cases of wildlife crime. 'Fair Game - The Law of Country Sports and the Protection of Wildlife' by Charlie Parkes and John Thornley, two former PWOs, is an excellent example of this. Wildlife can only be grateful that the authors have now retired.

We strongly recommend you only to contact a PWO as a last resort, if you do remember they might be very friendly with the gamekeeper or even shoot on the estate that you are reporting. If possible report all suspected wildlife crimes to the RSPCA first.