Strengthening wildlife protection in England

A cross-party group of 24 MPs and peers has written to Environment Minister Steve Reed, urging the British government to strengthen wildlife protections.

At the same time, leading animal welfare organisations have published a report authored by scientists at Anglia Ruskin University, examining how wildlife laws can better address animal welfare harms, and have called for a new wildlife act focused on animal welfare.

James Naish, Labour MP for Rushcliffe, is one of the lead signatoriesof the letter, which calls on the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) to conduct an urgent review of wildlife legislation and assess the benefits of introducing robust new legislation.

It is estimated that millions of wild animals are persecuted, displaced and cruelly killed in England every year. The letter states that current wildlife laws are outdated and contain significant protection gaps for some species, with the complexity of the legislation and evidential requirements presenting a barrier to the prosecution of many wildlife crimes. Currently, wildlife legislation is spread across at least 33 acts, some dating back to the early 18th century.

Wildlife crimes are not notifiable offences, but the National Wildlife Crime Unit and charities conservatively estimate that there are approximately 5’000 reports annually of cruel and illegal practices such as badger baiting and hare coursing.A recent study has shown that many police forces identify links between wildlife crime and other violent and/or organised offences, including theft, drugs, money laundering, and firearms offences.

The wildlife law reform report highlights acts of cruelty to wild animals through hunting that should be made illegal, such as extending the ban on the use of wire snares to trap animals to England. The report includes interviews with enforcement officers, legal experts and RSPCA officials (including inspectors), who describe encountering various inhumane methods used by members of the public to combat “pest species”, including shooting foxes with air rifles and drowning grey squirrels, as well as inconsistent sentencing.

MP James Naish said: My constituents and I care deeply about the protection of wildlife, and I know we are not alone: the people of England want wildlife to thrive and be protected from harm. For far too long, criminal groups who regard harming wildlife as a game have used the countryside as a playground, and strengthening our weak wildlife laws would be an excellent way to demonstrate that the government takes animal welfare issues seriously.

The head of the National Wildlife Crime Unit, Chief Inspector Kevin Lacks-Kelly, commented on the report as follows: “It is truly unacceptable that our officers across the country have to work with laws dating from the 1820s. Many of the failed cases we see are due to loopholes, a lack of expertise in the courtroom and the exploitation of existing legislation. We have a number of examples where badger baiters, raptor persecutors and fox killers are evading justice.”

In addition to the difficulties enforcement authorities face in successfully prosecuting cruelty cases and deterring criminals, the penalties when convictions do occur are low compared to other offences against animals. For instance, the maximum custodial sentence under the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 is six months, compared to five years under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Claire Bass, Executive Director of Campaigns and Public Affairs at Humane World for Animals UK, said: “The Georgian and Victorian era laws have not kept pace with the threats and pressures facing British wildlife in the 21st century, and it is unacceptable that our justice system treats wildlife as second-class citizens compared to other animals such as dogs and cats. We urge the government to scrap the parchment-paper protections and give wildlife the robust modern laws they need and deserve.”

Claire McParland, Senior Public Affairs Manager at RSPCA, said: “Police and prosecutors are faced with a complex puzzle of dozens of inconsistent and sometimes contradictory laws when it comes to protecting wildlife, with missing pieces enabling criminal gangs to exploit and abuse wildlife. Just like the pets we share our homes with, wildlife are sentient, and we firmly believe they deserve far better protection. That is why we want the laws updated and consolidated to better protect all wildlife, help the public understand their responsibilities, and ensure that perpetrators of wildlife crimes are held to account.”

In 2015, a report by the Law Commission, commissioned by the government, recommended updating and consolidating all legislation relating to wildlife into a single statute. A decade later, researchers at Anglia Ruskin University re-examined the problems with our wildlife laws and reached the same conclusion.

The report “Wildlife Law Reform”, authored by Professor Angus Nurse and Dr. Helga Hejny, contains ten key recommendations: UK wildlife law should be coordinated within a single piece of legislation; penalties for wildlife crimes should be increased to bring them in line with those for offences against domestic animals/animal abuse; and wildlife harm should be prioritised in planning and development.

Dr. Angus Nurse, Research Director and Professor of Law and Environmental Justice at ARU, said: “Research consistently shows that the complexity of wildlife law is seen as a problem in its effective enforcement and in achieving robust protection for wildlife. The Law Commission addressed this issue about a decade ago, and its view that wildlife law needs to be consolidated remains valid. Our study examined wildlife law in the context of wildlife harm and identified areas where the law could be improved to better prevent wildlife crime, enhance enforcement, and address wildlife harm. We need better systems to protect wildlife and the necessary support in investigating and prosecuting wildlife crime.”