Wildlife crime in Scotland: 2020 annual report

4. Wildlife crime priority areas

Wildlife crime priorities are set at UK level by the Wildlife Crime Tasking and Co-ordinating Group. The group's membership includes the Police, the Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime (PAW), National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC).

The priorities remained unchanged in 2019-20:

• Badger persecution;
• Bat persecution;
• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES);
• Freshwater pearl mussels;
• Poaching (including deer poaching, hare coursing, fish poaching);
• Raptor persecution.

Priority groups on poaching and coursing, and freshwater pearl mussel crime, continue to operate in Scotland, as well as the PAW Scotland Raptor Group (formerly the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group).

The following sections provide more detail on each of these priority areas, along with the relevant data. The additional sections from the 2014 report on the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 and Trapping and Snaring continue to be included.

NatureScot have provided a 'Health of Species' appraisal in Appendix 4, for those priority species that fall within NatureScots remit: badger, bats, freshwater pearl mussels, deer, brown hare and key raptors. This appraisal is intended to give an overview of current population trends, factors affecting the health of the species and the relative impact of wildlife crime on the conservation status and is in response to an Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee request for this contextual information.

Police Scotland disaggregated data

The data shown in Figure 1, table 15 and table 16 has been presented by Police Scotland. Data in Table 1 is sourced from the Scottish Government Recorded Crime figures and care should be taken in comparing those figures with the disaggregated figures provided in this section.

Table 15: Police Scotland offence data from 2015-16 to 2019-20

Type of crime	Number of offences
	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20
Badger persecution	7*	6	15	16	11
Bat persecution	2	0	1	0	4
CITES	5	6	2	1	0
Freshwater pearl mussels	1	2	1	1	2
Poaching and coursing	140	115	127	69	109
Raptor persecution	25	11	24	17	25
Not related to Priority Area	78	91	63	59	45
No crime recorded	3	0	2	0	0
Total	261	231	235	163	196
Additional breakdowns
Trapping/snaring (all species)*	15	15	15	28	28
Fox hunting	4	2	6	2	2
Hunting with dogs (all Protection Wild Mammals Act offences)	44	22	41	22	38
Total	63	39	62	52	68

Source: Police Scotland

*These offences may be duplicated elsewhere, e.g. illegal killing of a badger by snaring would be recorded in 'Badger persecution' and 'Trapping/snaring'

Table 16: Quarterly Police Scotland data for 2019-2020

Type of crime	Number of offences
	Apr-Jun	Jul-Sep	Oct-Dec	Jan-Mar
Badger persecution	9	1	0	1
Bat persecution	1	3	0	0
CITES	0	0	0	0
Freshwater pearl mussels	0	1	1	0
Poaching and coursing	40	24	28	17
Raptor persecution	13	2	3	7
Not related to Priority Area	17	13	11	4
Total	80	44	43	29
Additional breakdowns
Trapping/snaring (all species)*	5	7	9	7
Fox hunting	0	0	1	1
Hunting with dogs (all Protection Wild Mammals Act offences)	14	7	13	4
Total	19	14	23	12

Source: Police Scotland

Source: Police 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

Table 17 and figure 2 show that there were 11 offences relating to badger persecution recorded by Police Scotland in 2019-20, compared to 16 in 2018-19. Table 18 provides a quarterly breakdown of offences.

Table 17: Badger offences 2019-20 by Police Scotland Division

Police Division	Type of offence	Number of offences
Fife	Killing	1
Highlands and Islands	Digging, damage and obstruction to sett	1
	Killing	1
Lothians and Scottish Borders	Killing	4
North East	Digging, damage and obstruction to sett	2
Tayside	Killing	2
Total		11

Source: Police Scotland

Table 18: Badger offences 2019-20 by species and quarterly breakdown

Type of Crime	Apr-Jun	Jul-Sep	Oct-Dec	Jan-Mar	Total
Digging, damage and obstruction to sett	1	0	0	0	1
Killing	6	1	0	1	8
Disturbance	2	0	0	0	2
Total	9	1	0	1	11

Source: Police Scotland

Source: Police Scotland

Bat persecution

Bats and their roosts are protected by the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994), which gives strict legal protection to all species listed under Annex IV of the EU Habitats Directive – known as European Protected Species (EPS). Scotland's bat population is relatively small compared to other parts of the UK.

Bats, their breeding sites and resting places are at particular risk from development works and evidencing the presence of bats in these cases can be very challenging. Police Scotland work closely with NatureScot bat specialists in the investigation of any alleged offences.

Recorded crimes

Table 19 and figure 3 show there were four offences involving bat persecution recorded by Police Scotland in 2019-20.

Table 19: Summary of 2019-20 bat persecution offences

Police Division	Type of Offence	Date
Tayside	Damage and obstruction to roost	Jul-19
Highlands and Islands	Damage and obstruction to roost	Jul-19
Lanarkshire	Damage and obstruction to roost	Jun-19
Renfrewshire and Inverclyde	Damage and obstruction to roost	Jul-19

Source: Police Scotland

Source: Police Scotland

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. It is an international agreement between governments, which aims to protect certain animal and plant species from over-exploitation by trade.

In Scotland and the rest of the UK, this agreement is given legal authority by the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations 1997, known as COTES.

Recorded crimes

There were no CITES-related offence was recorded by Police Scotland in 2019-20.

Source: Police Scotland

Freshwater Pearl Mussels

Scotland supports several of the largest remaining populations of freshwater pearl mussels (FWPM) in the world some of which continue to be damaged by criminal activity. Pearl fishing continues in Scotland, almost uniquely within Europe. FWPM are also threatened by unlawful river engineering and pollution.

Recorded crimes

Police Scotland recorded two offences in relation to FWPM during 2019-20.

Table 19: Summary of 2019-20 FWPM offences

Police Division	Type of Offence	Date
Highland and Islands	FWPM fishing	Jul-19
	FWPM fishing	Jul-19

Source: Police Scotland

Source: Police Scotland

Poaching and coursing

Poaching involves the taking of deer, fish or other game without permission, or using unlawful methods. Coursing is the hunting of animals with dogs. This section sets out the new Police Scotland disaggregated data in addition to providing an overview on the work of the Poaching & Coursing Priority Delivery Group.

Recorded crimes

During 2019-20, 109 poaching and coursing offences were recorded by Police Scotland, compared to 54 offences in 2018-19. Table 20 shows the Tayside Division has the highest number of recorded hare coursing offences at 15.

Table 21 shows that hare coursing offences are the most commonly recorded at 49 offences, while fish poaching accounted for a further 24 offences.

Table 20: Poaching and coursing offences 2019-20 by Police Scotland Division

Police Division	Target Species	Number of offences
Argyll and West Dunbartonshire	Fish	1
Ayrshire	Fish	3
Dumfries and Galloway	Fish	1
	Hare	1
	Deer	1
Edinburgh	Fish	1
Fife	Fish	1
	Hare	10
	Deer	1
Forth Valley	Fish	3
	Rabbit	5
	Deer	2
Glasgow	Fish	1
	Deer	3
Highlands and Islands	Deer	7
	Fish	9
Lanarkshire	Rabbit	1
North East	Deer	4
	Fish	6
	Hare	11
Renfrewshire	Fish	1
Tayside	Hare	15
	Deer	3
	Wild Birds	1
Lothians and Scottish Borders	Deer	4
	Hare	12
	Rabbit	1
Total		109

Source: Police Scotland

Table 21: Poaching offences 2019-20 by species and quarterly breakdown

Target Species	Apr-Jun	Jul-Sep	Oct-Dec	Jan-Mar	Total
Deer	6	1	7	11	25
Fish	8	11	5	0	24
Hare	21	11	14	3	49
Rabbit	3	1	1	2	7
Unknown	2	0	1	0	3
Wild birds	0	0	0	1	1
Total	40	24	28	17	109

Source: Police Scotland

Source: Police Scotland

Raptor persecution

The persecution of raptors, or birds of prey, is the most high-profile type of wildlife crime in Scotland and it can have a serious impact on the populations of some raptor species at local, regional or (if carried out more widely) national level.

This section presents Police Scotland disaggregated data and SASA poisoning figures in relation to raptor offences.

Poisonings and other recorded crimes

Table 23 and figure 7 show the numbers of birds of prey confirmed by SASA as illegally poisoned between 2015-16 and 2019-20, alongside the number of incidents which resulted in these poisonings. The figures show that red kites are now (14) the most commonly recorded victim of illegal poisoning over the five year period.

Table 22: Bird of prey poisonings, Scotland, 2015-16 to 2019-20

Year	Number of Birds of Prey Poisoned (By Species)				Number of Incidents
	Buzzard	Red kite	Peregrine falcon	All
2015-16	5	1	-	6	5
2016-17	3	1	-	4	3
2017-18	3	1	-	4	4
2018-19	1	3	1	5	5
2019-20	2	9		11	9
Total	14	15	1	30	26

Source: Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA)

*One incident may involve more than one bird

Source: SASA

Recorded crimes

Raptor persecution offences increased from 17 in 2018-19 to 25 in 2019-20, however they represent a similar percentage of recorded crime (9% and 12% respectively).

Figure 8, table 24 and table 25 show a summary of bird of prey offences and offences recorded by Police Scotland between 2015-16 and 2019-20. A direct comparison between the datasets is not possible as incidents may involve multiple offences. These figures show that the buzzard (involved in 34 of the 107 cases) was the species most commonly affected over the five year period.

Shooting and poisoning are the joint highest recorded crime type for the period (24). It should be noted that one incident in this period in the North East involved the persecution of 6 raptors.

Source: Police Scotland

Table 23: Recorded bird of prey cases in Scotland, 2015-16 to 2019-20 by species involved

	Number of Cases (by species involved)
	Buzzard	Hen Harrier	Peregrine	Red Kite	Eagle	Sea Eagle	Golden Eagle	Goshawk	Merlin	Osprey	Red Kite & Buzzard	Barn Owl	Short Eared Owl	Tawny Owl	Unknown	Sparrowhawk	Total
2015-16	12	2	1	4	-	-	1	1	-	2	1	-	-	-	1	-	25
2016-17	4	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	-	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	11
2017-18	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	-	1	1	-	1	1	-	12	-	24
2018-19	9	-	1	2	-	-	1	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	1	1	17
2019-20	8	3	-	10	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	2	30*
Total	40	8	7	21	2	1	5	4	1	7	2	1	1	1	21	3	125

Source: Police Scotland

*One buzzard offence was linked to an incident involving six buzzards.

Table 24: Recorded bird of prey cases in Scotland, 2015-16 to 2019-20 by type of crime

	Number of Cases (by type of crime)
	Disturbance	Egg Theft	Other	Poisoning	Shooting	Trapping	Total
2015-16	3	-	3	6*	8	6*	25
2016-17	4	1	-	3	2	1	11
2017-18	3	1	11	2	5	2	24
2018-19	-	1	3	6	2	5	17
2019-20	1	-	-	13	7	4	25
Total	12	3	19	30	32	13	121

Source: Police Scotland

* one incident involved both trapping and poisoning

Table 25: Summary of recorded bird of prey offences in Scotland 2019-20 by Police Scotland Division

Police Division	Target Species	Number of offences
Dumfries and Galloway	Hen Harrier	1
	Red Kite	9
	Unknown	5
Edinburgh	Sparrowhawk	1
Forth Valley	Sparrowhawk	1
Highland and Islands	Buzzard	1
Lanarkshire	Hen Harrier	1
North East	Buzzard	1
	Red Kite	1
Tayside	Buzzard	1
	Golden Eagle	1
	Peregrine Falcon	1
	Unknown	1
Total		25

Source: Police Scotland

Table 26 and Figure 9 shows a majority of recorded bird of prey offences occurring during April to June, with 13 of the 25 total offences.

Table 26: Bird of prey offences 2019-20 by species and quarterly breakdown

Target species	Apr-Jun	Jul-Sep	Oct-Dec	Jan-Mar	Total
Buzzard	-	-	2	1	3
Golden Eagle	-	-	-	1	1
Hen Harrier	3	-	-	-	3
Red Kite	9	1	-	-	10
Sparrowhawk	1	1	-	-	2
Unknown	-	-	1	5	6
Total	13	2	3	7	25

Source: Police Scotland

Source: Police Scotland

Table 27 provides a detailed breakdown of bird of prey incidents for the year 2019-20. One incident may involve more than one bird.

Table 27: Details of recorded bird of prey incidents in Scotland 2019-20

Species targeted	Police Division	Type of offence	Month and year
Buzzard	North East	Shooting	Oct 2019
	Tayside	Shooting	Oct 2019
	Highland and Islands	Shooting	Mar 2020
Golden Eagle	Tayside	Shooting	Feb 2020
Hen Harrier	Tayside	Trapping	May 2019
	Lanarkshire	Trapping	May 2019
	Dumfries & Galloway	Shooting	Jun 2019
Red Kite	North East	Shooting	Sep 2019
	Dumfries & Galloway	Poisoning	Jun 2019
	Dumfries & Galloway	Poisoning	Jun 2019
	Dumfries & Galloway	Poisoning	Jun 2019
	Dumfries & Galloway	Poisoning	Jun 2019
	Dumfries & Galloway	Poisoning	Jun 2019
	Dumfries & Galloway	Poisoning	Jun 2019
	Dumfries & Galloway	Poisoning	Jun 2019
	Dumfries & Galloway	Poisoning	Jun 2019
	Dumfries & Galloway	Poisoning	Jun 2019
Sparrowhawk	Forth Valley	Shooting	Apr 2019
	Edinburgh	Disturbance	Jul 2019
Unknown	Tayside	Trapping	Oct 2019
	Dumfries & Galloway	Poisoning	Jan 2020
	Dumfries & Galloway	Poisoning	Feb 2020
	Dumfries & Galloway	Poisoning	Feb 2020
	Dumfries & Galloway	Poisoning	Feb 2020
	Dumfries & Galloway	Trapping	Feb 2020

Source: Police Scotland

Fox Hunting and the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002

This section highlights offences under the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002. Section 1 of the 2002 Act prohibits the deliberate hunting of a wild mammal with a dog (subject to certain exceptions). The Act is most commonly used in connection with hare coursing, although it has also been used for incidents relating to foxes, deer and badgers. It does not prohibit the hunting of rabbits or rats by dogs.

Recorded crime

Table 29 and figure 10 shows from the disaggregated data from Police Scotland, two of the 38 hunting with dogs cases related to fox hunting offences, rather than activities such as hare coursing. The total number of "hunting with dogs offences" recorded in 2019-20 (38) increased from 2018-19 (22). Hare coursing makes up the majority of these offences (32).

Source: Police Scotland

Table 28*: Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 'hunting with dogs' offences 2019-20 by Police Scotland Division

Police Division	Target species	Number of offences
Dumfries and Galloway	Deer	1
	Hare	1
Fife	Hare	3
North East	Hare	6
Renfrewshire & Inverclyde	Fox	1
Tayside	Hare	14
The Lothians and Scottish Borders	Fox	1
	Badger	1
	Deer	2
	Hare	8
Total		38

Source: Police Scotland

*The table does not show offences under Section 18(1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act for attempts to commit an offence in relation to killing or taking a wild mammal.

Table 29: Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 'hunting with dogs' offences 2019-20 by species and quarterly breakdown

Target species	Apr-Jun	Jul-Sep	Oct-Dec	Jan-Mar	Total
Badger	1	-	-	-	1
Deer	2	-	-	1	3
Fox	-	-	1	1	2
Hare	11	7	12	2	32
Total	14	7	13	4	38

Source: Police Scotland

Prosecutions

For the period 2019-2020, no cases were reported to COPFS containing a charge under Section 1 of the 2002 Act specifically in connection with allegations of hunting foxes with dogs.

Trapping and Snaring

Trapping and snaring are methods which can be legitimately used for the control of some types of wildlife such as corvids, rodents or foxes. This may be for conservation purposes, to protect agricultural or sporting interests or for human health and safety reasons. However, the use of traps and snares is subject to legal restrictions designed to prevent harm to non-target species or unnecessary cruelty.

Recorded crimes

Trapping and snaring figures are not shown as part of the recorded crime statistics in Table 1 as the offence data cannot be broken down to that level. The Police Scotland disaggregated offence data in Table 15 shows that 28 offences were recorded for 2019-20, exactly the same figure as offences recorded in 2018-19.

Table 31 shows that the vast majority (20) of the recorded trapping and snaring offences in 2019-20 occurred between Lanarkshire, the North East, Tayside and the Lothians and Scottish Borders divisions.

Table 30: Trapping and snaring offences 2018-19 by Police Scotland Division

Police Division	Type of offence	Target Species	Number of offences
Dumfries and Galloway	Larsen trap	Crow	1
	Spring trap	Crow	1
	Snare	Fox	1
Fife	Snare	Badger	1
Forth Valley	Live trap	Grey squirrel	1
Highland and Islands	Snare	Unknown	1
	Live trap	Badger	1
Lanarkshire	Live trap	Deer	1
	Live trap	Unknown	1
	Snare	Unknown	1
	Live trap	Rabbits	1
North East	Snare	Unknown	3
	Snare	Fox	1
	Spring trap	Unknown	1
Renfrewshire & Inverclyde	Snare	Deer	1
Tayside	Snare	Unknown	1
	Fenn Trap	Hen Harrier	1
	Snare	Badger	2
	Fenn Trap	Unknown	1
	Snare	Deer	1
The Lothians and Scottish Borders	Snare	Unknown	5
Total			28

Source: Police Scotland

Table 31 shows offences are occurring quite consistently throughout the year, with a slight increase from October – December.

Table 31: Trapping and snaring offences 2019-20 by quarterly breakdown

Type of crime	Apr-Jun	Jul-Sep	Oct-Dec	Jan-Mar	Total
Snare	3	5	8	2	18
Spring trap				2	2
Fenn trap	1		1		2
Live trap	1	2		2	5
Larsen trap				1	1
Total	5	7	9	7	28

Source: Police Scotland

Prosecutions

In 2019-20, 6 cases related to trapping and snaring were reported to COPFS.