Gangs raking in thousands from the rising tide of wildlife crime

Poaching, poisoning and the theft of animals may sound like activities from Britain's past, but modern gangs are muscling in on the act.

A new report claims the scale of the problem is being hidden and that gangs are making large sums of money from illegal activities such as hare-coursing, raking in up to £10,000 a month in one case, while poaching of fish and deer is common and as likely to happen in urban parks as in the countryside.

In the report published this week – the first such work to look at the broad range of wildlife crime in the UK – the charity World Animal Protection (WAP) says it presents a worrying picture of how the problem is affecting not only the individual animals and fish but also our biodiversity.

The fact that statistics on wildlife crime, from badger-baiting to disruption of habitats, are not being collated by police forces is a major stumbling block to tackling the crimes, says the charity.

While people will pay high prices for creatures and wildlife products smuggled in from abroad – powdered rhino horn is worth more than cocaine or gold at £40,000 a kilo – a large live carp can fetch £12,000 for a poacher and a deer £200, and the government is being urged to get its own house in order and look after British wildlife.

Alyx Elliott, campaigns manager at WAP (formerly the World Society for the Protection of Animals), said polling by the charity on public awareness of the issue had been startling. "It really brought to life for us how low awareness is in the UK; 86% of the public didn't know that the police had wildlife crime officers. If they don't know that – if they don't know that this is a crime – then the big worry is that they won't be reporting it."

Currently, police forces are not required to keep separate statistics on such incidents.

eddie wrote:Wow!! That's horrible.
I never knew it existed either.

harvesmom wrote:I know there are a few gangs badger baiting in the fields near us, I have no idea what they do with them I assume its just for sport.

If I see them I report them to the police, who turn up about 3 days later....

eddie wrote:

harvesmom wrote:I know there are a few gangs badger baiting in the fields near us, I have no idea what they do with them I assume its just for sport.

If I see them I report them to the police, who turn up about 3 days later....

The police are as useless as the RSPCA who are just as useless as a turd in a bird bath.