Introduction

This report provides statistics on offences relating to wildlife, including information on reported crime incidence, prosecutions, penalties imposed and supporting scientific evidence and intelligence. The information is obtained from a range of organisations (including Police Scotland, Scottish Government, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Scotland’s Rural College, the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and NatureScot) whose work relates to the investigation and prosecution of wildlife crime.

The report uses the following definition of wildlife crime, as agreed by the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW) Scotland in 2010:

"Wildlife crime is any unlawful act or omission, which affects any wild creature, plant or habitat, in Scotland."

This report presents statistics and information relating to 2021-22 for the stages described below:

• When a wildlife crime is suspected, the first step will often be for it to be reported to the police (or detected by the police), and then recorded.
• Further steps, supported by relevant scientific evidence and intelligence may then include:
  • investigation to assess whether the recorded crime should be part of a case submitted to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
  • a decision on whether there is sufficient evidence for the case to be prosecuted.
  • a court case, which may result in a conviction or acquittal.

Although these sets of statistics are related, it is important for users of these statistics to be aware that summation and direct comparisons between them cannot be made due to differences in data sources, timing and the bases on which statistics were collated.

For example:

• several recorded crimes may be included in one Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service case (involving multiple sources of scientific evidence)
• prosecutions may be reported in a different year from the year a crime was recorded
• court statistics are based on the number of individuals proceeded against rather than the number of recorded crimes involving those individuals.

Legislative requirement of annual report

This report is a requirement of Section 20 of the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011, which inserted a new Section 26B into the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The section prescribes that Ministers must lay a report following the end of every calendar year on offences which relate to wildlife, to include information on incidence and prosecutions during the year to which the report relates, and on research and advice relevant to those offences.

Structure of report

For the first time this year, a split is being introduced between the data on wildlife crime and the associated policy information. This recognises that the data are official statistics which should be produced in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The statistics are provided in the main report, ordered by data source. Information regarding wildlife crime policy and enforcement actions, and the organisations involved, is provided separately in Annex 1.

Supporting documents

The following supporting documents are published with the report:

• Figures [underlying data]
• Tables
• Data sources and methodology
• Annex 1 - Activities, projects and legislation related to wildlife crime policy and enforcement
• Annex 2 - Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service case outcomes
• Annex 3 - Court proceedings data by specific offence
• Annex 4 - Health of the species – NatureScot appraisal for priority species

Data sources and methodology

This supporting document describes the range of data sources used, the organisations providing the data, and relevant definitions. The Scottish Government would like to thank all the organisations which have provided data, analysis and advice.

The data sources and methodology supporting document also explains in more detail why care should be taken when comparing the statistics from different data sources as highlighted at the start of this introduction.

It is important to note that the recorded crimes statistical classifications used to group wildlife crimes in this publication are different from those used to group “wildlife offences” in the Accredited Official Statistics on Recorded Crime in Scotland, published by the Scottish Government. In particular, this publication excludes some crime classifications that are unlikely to relate to wildlife (e.g. “Pet and kept animals”, “Cruelty to dogs”) and includes some offences categorised in Recorded Crime in Scotland as “environmental offences” (e.g. Salmon and freshwater fisheries offences”). Further detail is provided in the Data sources and methodology supporting document.

Please note that small revisions might be made to data from earlier years, so those wanting to look at trends over time should use the data here and not refer back to earlier reports.

Official Statistics Publication for Scotland

These statistics are classified as Official Statistics in Development. Official statistics are statistics that are produced by crown bodies, those acting on behalf of crown bodies, or those specified in statutory orders, as defined in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Scottish Government statistics are regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of Official Statistics should adhere to.

This is the first year in which this report has been published as Official Statistics, in accordance with advice provided by the Chief Statistician for Scotland. As per usual for new statistics publications, these statistics are published as Official Statistics in Development. Once the statistics have been tested with users, in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics, the aim will be to move from publication as Official Statistics in Development to publication as Official Statistics.