EAC gives Government’s response on wildlife crime
In it, the Government has rejected calls from MPs to give funding certainty to the National Wildlife Crime Unit, and will not be banning the use of carbofuran, despite the possession of the poison being illegal in Scotland.
The chair of the EAC, Joan Walley MP, said: “The Government has missed an opportunity to take two simple measures to protect important wildlife threatened by poachers and criminals in the UK.”
The Government also refused to impose an offence of vicarious liability in relation to raptor persecution, saying that, though there were no plans to introduce similar offences in England or Wales, it will be: “Looking closely at how the new offences in Scotland work in practice, and once prosecutions begin to be brought forward, it will be possible to start to assess the impact that the introduction of this legislation has made.”
