Animal Welfare Bill: BRIA

Annex B: Poustie Consultation

Question 1: Do you consider that the penalties available to the courts for wildlife crime in general are a deterrent?

• The majority of respondents disagreed (70%)
• Reasons given by respondents included that the potential benefits of the offence to the offender could significantly outweigh deterrent effect of penalties and that corporate developers, for example in relation to bat crime, tended to comply with the law because of reputational concerns rather than the deterrent effect of the penalty.

Question 2: Do you consider that the penalties imposed by the courts for wildlife crime in general are a deterrent?

• The majority of respondents disagreed (90%)

Question 3: Are there any particular sorts of wildlife crime where you believe the penalties imposed are not appropriate?

• The majority of respondents agreed (81%)

Question 4: Are there any particular sorts of wildlife crime where you believe the penalties imposed are appropriate?

• Respondents were almost equally split between Yes- (35%), No- (32%), Don’t know- (33%)

Question 5: Are wildlife crime penalties, too low, about right, too high or some low and some about right?

• The majority of respondents believe the penalties to be too low (81%)