by Alan Stewart, (Wildlife Liaison Co-ordinator, Tayside Police)

Tayside Police 'Statement of Intent'
"Tayside Police are committed to work with all agencies across the wide range of wildlife, environment and countryside interests. We aim to develop effective partnerships, promote preventive strategies and encourage educational initiatives which improve the understanding of wildlife issues. We have a statutory duty to enforce the law on wildlife and environmental crime."

Police Wildlife Liaison Officers (PWLO's) are a relatively recent development. Police officers have responsibility for wildlife crimes for many years but they are now proactive in their approach instead of reacting to investigations already under way or even completed by charitable organisations such as RSPB and SSPCA.

The diversity of wildlife crime is a fairly specialised field, and although countries such as America and Norway have dedicated or specialised agencies, such as the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Okokrim respectively, the developments in UK have not followed such a course, enforcement of wildlife crime being a matter for the PWLO's.

The English Police took the lead in 1979, when Essex Constabulary initiated a wildlife liaison scheme within their Force. A designated officer acted in a liaison and co-ordination role between the public, conservation groups, relevant agencies or statutory bodies, and other police officers. By the end of the 1980's most English Forces and a few Scottish Forces had a PWLO and now all Forces in Britain have at least one PWLO in a part time role in addition to normal duties. Several forces now have an officer dedicated to this work on a full time basis.

In Tayside, there are now 13 PWLO's distributed throughout the Force area and a civilian Wildlife Liaison Co-ordinator, in an administrative and co-ordination role. In common with some other forces, the remit has been slightly expanded to embrace wildlife and environmental crime, countryside issues, such as deterring and detecting poaching activities and most importantly, education, which includes that of other police officers, school children and students, and those involved with game management.

Wildlife Crime

It is important to bear in mind that many crimes occur in remote places and as such go largely undetected. If in fairly recent years there has been a high incidence of poisoning or illegal shooting incidents in Tayside, then this is likely to have been the tip of the iceberg. The recovery of the evidence or initial investigation presents special difficulties for police officers since the nature of the terrain often means that a long walk is inevitable, and the best part of a day may be required to recover a bait, an illegal trap or a victim.

Scenes of crime examinations are invariably carried out by the PWLO attending, since it would generally be impracticable for a scenes of crime officer to attend. This adds another specialisation to those already required by a PWLO, since evidence at the scene may be the only link with the individual responsible.

The taking of rare birds' eggs or badger digging are crimes which may involve similar problems and they too would require a scenes of crime examination to be carried out.

Traps

One of the most likely traps for hillwalkers to come across is a large cage trap, often called a letterbox trap, for crows. These work on the basis that one or more call birds are put into the trap, and they attract more of their kind.

There are certain laws in relation to the use of this trap which you should be aware of. Firstly they can only be used to catch pest species of the corvid family, these being crows, rooks, jackdaws, jays and magpies. The call bird must have adequate provision of food, water and shelter; the trap must be inspected every day and the birds which have been caught removed. When not in use the trap must be rendered incapable of catching birds - the entry section blocked off to prevent birds getting in or the door or gate fastened open to allow birds to escape.

The International dimension

PWLO's have the responsibility, often in conjunction with agencies such as HM Customs, of investigating the illegal importing or exporting of animals, plants and derivatives thereof. Wildlife smuggling is rife throughout the world and deserves more attention from law enforcement agencies in Britain than it is currently receiving. One might normally associate wildlife smuggling in Britain as an "import" situation rather than "export". Britain, however, is host to many rare species of animals and birds, and while no doubt many live specimens are smuggled out, many more leave our shores as dead specimens for taxidermy.

Some of the most likely birds to be taken out of the country are birds of prey which are of value for falconry, such as golden eagles and peregrine falcons. They may be removed from the nest, as eggs or chicks, or even the adults are occasionally caught at the nest. As with general egg theft, PWLO's would respond immediately to a report of a person suspected of such a crime.

Disturbance to birds

Some birds, eagles in particular, are very sensitive to disturbance, and may desert their nest during incubation or even next building. While hillwalkers using a path where the birds regularly see walkers are probably of no threat, persons in areas near the nest where the birds are not used to seeing them may cause them to desert. It is important therefore to avoid known eagle and peregrine nest sites between March and May.
[the MCofS has an Information Sheet about nesting birds]

Environmental Crime

Tayside PWLO's maintain close links with Scottish Environment Protection Agency, who have a remit to investigate river pollution and fly tipping of rubbish in the countryside, and have found that like in many other aspects of policing, a joint approach has been found to be effective.

The myth of poachers "taking one for the pot" has been dispelled and while poaching is less common than it was 20 or 30 years ago, there still exist problem areas.

The first relates to the poaching of deer, mainly red deer, though to a lesser degree the other species. With venison prices increasing recently some poachers now look on taking deer illegally as a commercial enterprise, and in Northern Tayside, PWLO's have assisted in setting up local "poacher-watches".

The other local problem relates to gangs of people coursing hares with lurchers, often in the early hours of a Sunday morning. These people have no regard for other persons' property and walk over fields and through crops at will. Their interest is not with catching hares either for the pot or for sale, but simply to train and test their dogs. The hare, once caught and killed by the dog or dogs, is left lying where it has been killed, while the men move on to the next victim. PWLO's are monitoring the problem and advising their colleagues, landowners, farmers and gamekeepers of the best course of action.

Education

Education is coming more to the forefront of the Tayside PWLO's agenda. This incorporates the involvement of schools in environmental projects, often along with estates involved in game management. This also has the important spin-off in the education of estate staff, who until recently often only considered estate or shooting interests and not those of environment, habitat, members of the public, or even the fact that they may be committing a crime. Tayside Police recently won a Scottish Environmental Award for an education initiative on Hen Harriers.

How can you help ?

In wildlife crime incidents, people often ask what action they should take if they suspect a crime has taken place. The general guidelines would be to -

1. preserve the scene as much as possible, which would mainly mean not destroying evidence such as sole impressions by trampling around unnecessarily, and not handling anything which may bear traces of fingerprint impressions, such as tins or plastic;
2. photograph the scene, trap, bait or victim if possible, and protect any further potential victims by covering up traps or anything which may contain poison;
3. do not handle anything which is suspected of containing poison;
4. report the find to a Police Wildlife Liaison Officer as soon as possible, giving an accurate description of the location, including a map reference.

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland at Perth have a list of all the PWLO's in Scotland. If a hillwalking or climbing club feel it would be of benefit to have a presentation on the work of PWLO's or would like to find out how best you can assist in preventing and detecting wildlife crime, contact the Mountaineering Council of Scotland at Perth (01738) 638229, who will put you in touch with the appropriate PWLO.

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