Wildlife crime in Scotland: 2019 annual report

2. Headline trends

This chapter outlines the main trends in wildlife crime recorded by the police, reports of those charged by the police and processed by COPFS and numbers of people proceeded against in court.

2.1 Recorded crime

Table 1 provides a summary of the different types of wildlife crime recorded by the police over the five year period to 2018-19. These recorded crime statistics are Scottish Government statistical output derived from Police Scotland's recorded crime database.

In 2018-19 there were 171 offences relating to wildlife recorded by the police. This is a significant decrease of 28% in comparison with 2017-18 (236 recorded offences).

While overall recorded wildlife offences dropped, crimes against birds stayed at a similar level to previous years and was the most commonly recorded type of crime in 2018-19 with 46 offences. Reported fish poaching and hunting with dogs crime saw a marked decrease in 2018-19 dropping by 47% and 46% respectively.

Table 1: Wildlife crime recorded by Police Scotland, 2014-15 to 2018-19

Offences relating to:	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19
Badgers*	5	4	6	14	15
Birds	49	46	50	45	46
Conservation (protected sites)	1	5	1	5	3
Cruelty to wild animals	38	23	24	32	31
Deer	24	13	14	18	17
Fish poaching	101	75	68	45	24
Hunting with dogs	20	42	22	41	22
Poaching and game laws	2	0	6	3	2
Other wildlife offences	44	53	40	33	11
Total	284	261	231	236	171

Source: Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2018-19

* Offences recorded under Protection of Badgers Act 1992 only

Table 2 presents the distribution of the types of wildlife crime between different Police Scotland divisions in 2018-19.

Table 2: Wildlife crime recorded, by Police Scotland Division, 2018-19

Offences relating to:	North East	Argyll & West Dunbartonshire	Ayrshire	Dumfries & Galloway	Edinburgh	Fife	Forth Valley	Greater Glasgow	Highland & Islands	Lanarkshire	Renfrewshire & Inverclyde	Tayside	The Lothians & Scottish Borders	Total
Badgers	2	0	1	1	3	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	7	15
Birds	6	0	4	7	1	2	3	3	11	3	0	2	4	46
Conservation (protected sites)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	3
Cruelty to wild animals	2	0	2	2	1	1	9	0	5	3	1	0	5	31
Deer	2	2	0	0	0	3	0	1	2	1	3	0	3	17
Fish poaching	2	2	3	0	0	1	1	0	13	0	1	0	1	24
Hunting with dogs	5	2	0	0	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	9	2	22
Poaching and game laws	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	2
Other wildlife offences	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	2	0	3	1	11
Total	20	6	10	10	3	12	16	6	32	9	6	16	25	171

Source: Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2018-19

The highest number of wildlife offences in 2018-19 was recorded in Highland & Islands (32), followed by the Lothians & Scottish Borders (25), and North East (20). Table 2 also shows that over half of all fish poaching offences were recorded in the Highland & Islands (13 of 24).

2.2 Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Statistics

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service's (COPFS) dedicated Wildlife and Environmental Crime Unit (WECU) has been in operation since 15 August 2011. WECU investigates and manages the prosecution of all cases involving crimes against wildlife.

Case work of the Wildlife & Environmental Crime Unit in 2018-19

Table 3 shows the breakdown of wildlife cases received by COPFS in each of the financial years 2014-15 to 2018-19, following the standard categories used elsewhere in this report. Notes and Definitions on the COPFS data are available in Appendix 2 – Notes and Definitions for COPFS Data.

Table 3: Wildlife cases received by COPFS in 2014-15 to 2018-19

Offence relating to:	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19
Badgers	*(*)	*	*	*	*
Birds	17(*)	15(*)	24(*)	13	12
Cruelty to wild animals	11(*)	*(*)	8(*)	0	*(*)
Deer	*	*	*	*	*
Fish poaching	38	30	35	18	15(*)
Hunting with dogs	6	15	7	22	7
Other wildlife offences	17	20	14(*)	*	11
Other conservation offences	0	*	*	0	0
Total	98(7)	90(9)	94(5)	67	54(*)

Source: Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service

*= data suppressed. See Appendix 2.

The figures in brackets in Table 3 indicate the number of reports submitted by a specialist reporting agency: in the case of fish poaching offences, by the River Tweed Commissioners and in the remaining categories, by the Scottish SPCA. Where fewer than five cases were reported in any category either in total or by a specialist reporting agency, the figures have been removed from the table.

The outcomes of these cases are shown in Table 4 below.

Table 4: Outcomes of all wildlife cases reported to COPFS in 2014-15 to 2018-19

All reports	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19
No action	24	40	27	30	19(*)
Alternative to prosecution	34	27	35	23	18(*)
Prosecuted	40	23	32	14	17
of which convicted	28	16	25	*	11
No. of reports received	98(7)	90(9)	94(5)	67	54(*)

Source: Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service

The figures in brackets in Table 4 indicate the number of reports submitted by a specialist reporting agency: in the case of fish poaching offences, by the River Tweed Commissioners and in the remaining categories, by the Scottish SPCA. Where fewer than five cases were reported in any category either in total or by a specialist reporting agency, the figures have been removed from the table.

The following information relates to cases reported in 2018-19:

Prosecution in court was undertaken in 17 cases (31% of cases received):

• 11 cases resulted in a conviction (65% of cases prosecuted).
• 6 cases resulted in acquittals (35% of cases prosecuted). In some cases this reflects the verdict following trial and in others, the result of a plea adjustment.

18 cases were dealt with by an alternative to prosecution (33% of cases received). Warning letters were issued in the majority of those cases. Other disposals included fiscal fines and referral for diversion.

No action was taken in 19 cases (35% of cases received). In the majority of those cases, no action was taken for legal reasons and in fewer than five cases was in the exercise of the prosecutor's discretion.

The legal reasons included:

• circumstances that did not constitute a crime; and
• instances where there was insufficient evidence to permit proceedings.

Further information about cases received in 2018-19 is as follows:

• A total of 7 reports (13% of cases received) involved activity targeting hares or rabbits.
• 5 reports (9% of cases received) related to circumstances involving badgers.
• 11 cases (20% of cases received) involved dogs.
• 5 cases (9% of cases received) involved the use of traps and snares.
• The cases in the "Hunting with dogs" category related to allegations of hare coursing and fox hunting.

"Other wildlife offences" included alleged COTES offences and alleged contraventions of section 4 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, namely damaging, destroying, or obstructing access to any structure or place used by a wild animal for shelter or protection, or disturbing a wild animal while it is occupying such a place.

Other reports included circumstances involving red squirrels, water voles and lizards, and the use of firearms.

Further details of case outcomes in the individual categories are provided in Appendix 2A – Further Information on COPFS Case Outcomes.

Notable cases

Fish Poaching

• Four individuals were caught fishing for salmon without permission and pleaded guilty to various contraventions of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003 and the Conservation of Salmon (Scotland) Regulations 2016. One of them was fined £400 and community payback orders were imposed in respect of the other three with a requirement to carry out unpaid work.
• An individual was fined £300 after being found in possession of a spear gun, a wet suit and a snorkel mask in circumstances which afforded reasonable grounds for suspecting that they had been obtained for the purpose of committing an offence under provisions of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003, contrary to section 9(1) of that Act.

Other Categories

• An individual pleaded guilty to multiple wildlife offences spanning a period of 15 months. These included killing two goshawks, three common buzzards, three badgers, and an otter with a shotgun. Other charges involved the setting of illegal snares, possessing illegal pesticides, as well as possession of devices designed to catch raptors, traps, an Eagle Owl and a number of shotguns, rifles and snares. The Sheriff imposed a community payback order with a requirement to carry out 225 hours of unpaid work and a restriction of liberty order.
• An individual was fined £335 for shooting a herring gull in contravention of section 1(1)(a) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and a related firearms offence.
• An individual pleaded guilty to disturbing a swan whilst on its nest, grabbing it by the neck and causing it to leave its nest in contravention of section 1(1)(b) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The Sheriff imposed a community payback order with a three year supervision requirement.
• An individual was fined £300 after pleading guilty to repeated use of an illegally set snare in which a cat became entangled contrary to section 11(1)(aa) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and section 19(1) of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2006.
• An unlicensed dealer in second hand goods was fined £450 for displaying for sale a taxidermy kestrel and two taxidermy red squirrels contrary to the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations 1997, section 9(5)(a) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.
• An individual found guilty of attempting to take rabbits using ferrets and a dog in terms of section 11G(1) and 18(1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, was fined £150.

2.3 Criminal proceedings statistics

Table 5 shows the number of people proceeded against in Scottish courts and the relevant conviction rates for wildlife offences between 2014-15 and 2018-19. Please note that this table is a summary and a breakdown of proceedings for specific offences is provided at Appendix 3 - Court proceedings and penalties data by specific offence.

Criminal Proceedings statistics are not directly comparable with the recorded crime or COPFS figures presented above for a number of reasons. Please see section 2.4 for further explanation.

Table 5: People proceeded against in Scottish Courts for wildlife crimes1, 2014-15 to 2018-19

Offences relating to:	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	Last five financial years
						Total proceedings	Conviction rate
Badgers	2	-	-	-	-	2	100%
Birds	8	5	4	3	2	22	91%
Cruelty to wild animals	3	6	2	5	-	16	75%
Deer	2	-	1	1	-	4	75%
Hunting with dogs	3	5	8	4	6	26	73%
Poaching and game laws	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Fish poaching	19	8	5	5	3	40	78%
Other wildlife offences	14	1	3	9	4	31	77%
Total proceeded against	51	25	23	27	15	141	79%
Total guilty	35	20	22	24	10
% guilty	69%	80%	96%	89%	67%
Total number of offences proceeded against2	158	73	59	52	43
Total number of offences found guilty2	66	33	32	25	15
% guilty2	42%	45%	54%	48%	35%

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings Database

¹ Where main charge

² All charges

There were 25 people proceeded against for wildlife related offences in 2018-19, a 44% decrease from 2017-18 (27 people). The largest decrease for specific categories was in 'cruelty to wild animals' and 'other wildlife offences' (each with five fewer persons proceeded against compared to five and nine respectively in 2016-17). There was, however, an increase in the number of proceedings for 'hunting with dogs', up to six in 2018-19 from four in 2017-18.

Conviction rates for individual wildlife crime categories have been presented as a five year average due to the small numbers of proceedings for some categories. This shows that conviction rates are broadly similar among these categories, varying from 73% to 100%.

Although a single court proceeding can involve a number of different offences, it should be noted that Criminal Proceedings statistics only report on the 'main charge'. Unless otherwise stated, proceedings and convictions for wildlife crimes referred to in this section are for when the wildlife crime was the main charge in a single court proceeding. For example, if a shotgun offence receives a higher penalty than a wildlife offence in the same proceeding, the shotgun offence would be counted, not the wildlife offence. To illustrate the difference, the total number of individual wildlife offence convictions in each year, regardless of whether the wildlife offence was the main charge or not, are presented at the bottom of Table 5.

In 2018-19 court proceedings were held covering a total of 43 wildlife crime offences, in comparison to the 15 proceedings where wildlife crime was the main charge in a case.

Tables 6 and 7 present information on penalties issued for wildlife crime convictions and have been presented as aggregate figures due to the small numbers of proceedings for some crime categories in individual years.

Table 6 shows that the most common punishment for a wildlife crime conviction is still a monetary fine, with 70% of convictions receiving this type of penalty in 2018-19, up from 67% to 2017-18.

Table 6: People with a charge* proved for wildlife crimes in Scottish Courts, by main penalty, 2014-15 to 2018-19

	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19
People proceeded against	51	25	23	27	15
People with a charge proved	35	20	22	24	10
Of which received:
Custody	1	1	1	2	-
Community sentence	2	4	5	3	1
Monetary	28	11	15	16	7
Other	4	4	1	3	2

Source: Criminal Proceedings Statistics

* Where main charge

In Table 7, aggregate totals for the five years from 2014-15 to 2018-19 show that monetary punishments are mostly likely to be given for nearly all wildlife crime types, with the exception of offences relating to badgers, where community sentences were the more commonly given. Only 4.5% of all wildlife crime convictions resulted in a custodial sentence.

Average fines and custodial sentences are also presented in Table 7. It is not possible to establish the average number of Community Payback Order (CPO) hours as this information is not held in the Criminal Proceedings database nor is it available for other types of crime.

Table 7: People with a charge* proved for wildlife crimes in Scottish Courts, by main penalty and wildlife crime, 2014-15 to 2018-19

Offences relating to:	2014-15 to 2018-19 totals					Average
	Total with a charge proved	Custody	Community sentence	Monetary	Other	Custodial sentence length (days)	Monetary fine (£)
Badgers	2	-	2	-	-	-	-
Birds	20	1	2	13	4	122	973
Cruelty to wild animals	12	1	2	7	2	126	563
Deer	3	-	-	3	-	-	308
Hunting with dogs	19	3	4	12	-	135	924
Poaching and game laws	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Fish poaching	31	-	2	22	7	-	203
Other wildlife offences	24	-	3	20	1	-	689
Totals	111	5	15	77	14	131	608

Source: Criminal Proceedings Statistics

* Where main charge

2.4 Comparing data sources

While the criminal justice IT systems represented in Tables 1 to 7 have common standards in terms of classifying crimes and penalties, care should be taken when comparing the different sets of statistics:

• Prosecutions may not happen or be concluded in the same year as a crime was recorded by Police Scotland. Timing is also an issue when comparing COPFS figures (which refer to prosecutions brought in respect of cases reported to COPFS in each financial year) and Criminal Proceedings statistics (which represent only prosecutions commenced and, of those, prosecutions concluded to the point of conviction, in each financial year)
• In the Police Scotland recorded crime statistics, a single crime or offence recorded by the police may have more than one perpetrator. By comparison the court statistics measure individuals who are proceeded against, which may be for more than one crime. As outlined above, only the main charge in a prosecution is presented for criminal proceeding statistics
• There is the possibility that the crime or offence recorded by Police Scotland may be altered e.g. when Police Scotland submit a report of alleged offending to COPFS, and COPFS may alter the charges during their case marking process, which makes it difficult to track crimes through the criminal justice process
• Additionally, crimes and offences alleged to have been committed by children less than 16 years old are not included in the criminal proceedings statistics as these are representative of activity in the adult courts. Juveniles are generally processed through the children's hearings system
• There may be discontinuity when comparing between the National Statistics data and Police Scotland data as any information provided by Police Scotland is taken from a 'live' system which is continually being updated as investigations progress. Whereas, the data provided by Police Scotland for the production of the National Statistics on Recorded Crime is extracted at the same time each year and is not back-revised. As a result, a reduction of in the number of crimes and offences recorded is expected due to two main scenarios:

1. Crimes and offences can be reclassified to a different crime or offence type i.e. from a wildlife crime to a different kind of crime, or

2. they can be re-designated as not being a crime following additional investigations.