Wild Justice sponsors UK Wildlife Crime Enforcers’ Conference 2024
Wildlife crime is an issue close to the heart of Wild Justice – indeed, the frustration we felt after the collapse of a number of prosecutions in short succession, related to the illegal killing of birds of prey, was what motivated us to set up Wild Justice in 2018.
We have supported wildlife crime enforcement in a number of ways since then, including the establishment of a forensics fund to support UK police investigations in to alleged offences of raptor persecution, which has helped to secure the convictions of at least four gamekeepers. We also offered a reward for information in the case of the illegal shooting of five goshawks. We have campaigned heavily about the link between gamebird shooting and raptor persecution, especially on the Hen Harrier, and we also serve on Wildlife & Countryside LINK’s wildlife crime group.
This year we were very pleased to sponsor the UK Wildlife Crime Enforcers’ Conference, which took place in Bedfordshire between 4th and 6th December 2024. Organised by the National Wildlife Crime Unit, this annual event is where law enforcers, statutory agencies and NGOs gather to hear the latest approaches, successes and challenges of combating wildlife crime in the UK.
Wild Justice Director Ruth Tingay attended as our representative and enjoyed making many new contacts as well as meeting up with some of our colleagues and friends to discuss new opportunities for partnership working.
Almost 200 people attended and listened to a wide range of case studies, including successful prosecutions for hare coursing, fox hunting, raptor persecution and the global monkey torture ring. There was an update on the Hen Harrier Taskforce and a show-stealing presentation on wildlife crime detection dogs, including an impressive live demonstration!
Wildlife crime continues to be a huge problem in the UK and some police forces are still under-performing in their responses, not helped by the inertia of successive Governments, but it is clear that other police forces have very knowledgeable, resourceful and dedicated wildlife crime officers whose work to find offenders is second to none.