Wildlife crime penalties: consultation

Consultation Proposals

Increase the maximum available penalties for serious wildlife cruelty offences

The Scottish Government proposes to increase the maximum prison sentence available to the courts for serious wildlife offences under the following legislation;

• Conservation (Natural Habitats &c) Regulations 1994, sections 39 & 41
• Protection of Badgers Act 1992, sections 1 – 3
• Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002, section 1
• Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996, section 1
• Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 1, 5 – 11 & 14
• Deer (Scotland) Act 1996, sections 17, 21 & 22

In particular, the Scottish Government proposes that some offences, such as those that involve injuring or the un-licensed killing or taking of wild animals, be amended to be allowed to be triable under solemn procedure and the maximum penalties be increased to:

• imprisonment for of up to 5 years; or 
• a fine of no limit; or 
• both such imprisonment and fine.

We also propose that the maximum penalty available for other wildlife offences remaining under summary conviction only, including the disturbance of animals or damage of nests/shelters, be increased to;

• imprisonment for of up to 12 months; or 
• a fine up to £40,000; or 
• both such imprisonment and fine.  

We do not propose to create any new offences or amend the wording of existing offences at this time.

Extend the time limit allowed for prosecution

We will seek to extend the time allowed for prosecution either by making the offences triable by summary or solemn procedure or for summary procedures only by amending the time limit for these offences to six months from which sufficient evidence came to the knowledge of the prosecutor, but no more than three years from the date of the offence.

Wildlife crimes often occur in remote or rural settings.  It can therefore often be several weeks after an offence has been committed before the police are made aware that a potential crime may have occurred.  Further, investigating wildlife offences increasingly involves the gathering and analysis of forensic evidence and the undertaking of post-mortem examinations.  A fully researched expert report may also need to be obtained.  

By extending the time limit we seek to ensure that Police Scotland have sufficient time to carry out their investigation and to gather and analyse the range of evidence required bring forward proceedings.   

By allowing offences to be tried under solemn procedure, the Scottish Government proposes to change the rules that specify the court procedures to be used for prosecuting offences.  The majority of offences can currently only be prosecuted under summary procedure.  

As a consequence of the requirement to bring prosecutions by way of summary procedure, the time limit for bringing a prosecution for these offences is six months from the date of the offence, unless the legislation expressly provides for an alternative time limit. This time limit is set out in the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995^[5]. Such a time limit does not apply to offences that may be prosecuted using solemn procedure. 

In keeping with the proposals to increase the maximum penalties for some wildlife crimes, the Scottish Government proposes that the legislation above be amended to specify that some offences, such as those that involve injuring or the un-licensed killing or taking of wild animals, may be prosecuted using either summary or solemn procedure. By doing so, the current statutory time limit (six months from the date of the offence) for bringing a prosecution would no longer apply in relation to that particular offence, unless a time limit for bringing a prosecution is introduced. 

The combined result of the proposals above would be that no statutory time limit would exist for bringing prosecutions for the most serious offences listed in the above legislation. It is not proposed that these changes would apply to offences committed before the date these proposed changes come into force. 

A benefit of these proposals is that prosecution would become possible in circumstances in which sufficient evidence to prosecute an offence came to light over six months after such an offence had been committed. 

For offences that are triable by summary procedure only we are proposing to amend the time limit to six months from which sufficient evidence came to the knowledge of the prosecutor, but no more than three years from the date of the offence.  It is not proposed that these changes would apply to offences committed before the date these proposed changes come into force.