Partnership set up to tackle wildlife crime

Wildlife in Northern Ireland will be safer thanks to the establishment of the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime Northern Ireland group (PAW NI), who held their first meeting recently.

The Partnership brings together representatives of organisations involved in countryside issues, wildlife conservation and law enforcement in Northern Ireland, and it aims to provide opportunities for statutory and non-Government organisations to work together to combat wildlife crime.

John Milburne, the Wildlife Officer at the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS), has welcomed the move: "Although historically wildlife crime has been recorded at a lower level than in other parts of the UK, we know that wildlife crimes often remain undetected or are not tackled adequately in Northern Ireland."

Examples of such crimes include poaching, badger digging and finch trapping. “We hope this new group will be able to raise awareness, discourage and prevent such activities, but ultimately prosecute criminals who break the law,” said Mr Milburne.

The PSNI representative Superintendent Alan McCrum said: "The PSNI are pleased to be partners with statutory and non-statutory bodies in the investigation of wildlife crime. We look forward to working with the members of PAW NI in raising awareness of this important issue and bringing offenders before the courts where appropriate."

Non-government organisations are also delighted with the establishment of the group, which follows a conference to assess the level of bird crime in Northern Ireland, hosted in November last year by the RSPB.

"We hope the group will be pro-active and focus on preventing crime as well as taking action once crimes have been committed," commented Claire Ferry, Conservation Officer at the RSPB. "The RSPB would like to see action to ensure that our special birds of prey, such as the hen harrier and peregrine, remain free from persecution."

The NI group is under the umbrella group of PAW UK, which works with partners from across the UK and Ireland, including the Garda and the Department of Environment, Heritage and local government bodies.

It is expected that the new group will encourage compliance with, and ensure enforcement of, wildlife law.

(SP/KMcA)