Wildlife Crime in Scotland 2022
Publication giving statistics on wildlife crime in Scotland.
Badger Persecution
All badgers in Scotland are protected by law, but they are sometimes still illegally targeted by those who see them as a pest or for the purposes of illegal animal fights. Reckless or intentional damage, destruction and interference to badger setts (including sett blocking) is an offence which may arise from unlicensed forestry, agricultural or construction works.
Recorded crimes
Figure 15: There were 13 offences relating to badger persecution recorded by Police Scotland in 2021-22, compared to 14 in 2020-21.
Badger offences recorded by Police Scotland 2017-18 to 2021-22
As shown in Figure 15, there were 13 recorded offences relating to badger persecution recorded in 2021-22, close to the 5-year average of 14 in recent years.
The majority (11 out of 13 offences) related to digging, damage and obstruction to sett, and just over half of all offences against badgers occurred during the period April to June.
Further detail: of offences by year, offence type, police division and time of year is provided in tables 25 and 26 of the Tables supporting document.
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