Wildlife Crime Project (WCP) News.

It was a busy month for the Wildlife Crime Project.

• The Project delivered training to several Police services, including the British Transport Police, on bat-related offence investigations, as part of the National Wildlife Crime Course. This course always generates great questions, such as: 'Can you use the Proceeds of Crime Act against companies for offences they have committed against bats?'. The answer is: 'Yes you can if you can evidence corporate liability and they admit the offence or are found guilty.'.
• Due to various factors, there will only be one more input from the Project on the National Wildlife Crime Course before it becomes an elearning package. The project has started working with the National Wildlife Crime Unit on the content for its development. The Project will also be considering options for direct contact with Police services to support the elearning packages in the future.
• The Project chaired the National Bat Crime Priority Delivery Group in September where information sharing was discussed and updates were provided from Police in England, Scotland and Wales on bat-related Incidents.
• Mark Goulding gave a presentation at the National Bat Conference on the work of the Wildlife Crime Project before running a workshop, produced by the Project and Jan Collins (Head of Biodiversity at BCT) on 'Evidence and Reporting of Bat Crime'. The presentations made at the conference are available at the following link https://learn.bats.org.uk/courses/Nat-Bat-Conf24
• The Wildlife Crime Project has provided advice to a number of Police services this month on bat-related incidents, which are being progressed. We have also had enquires over the removal of hedges that may impact commuting routes for bats. Foraging and commuting routes for bats are not protected in criminal law, however in some cases hedges of a certain age may be. The Hedgerows Regulations 1997 make provision for the protection of important hedgerows in England and Wales, and an offence to intentionally or recklessly remove a hedge may be committed if certain conditions are met. For more information please refer to the following link https://www.legislation.gov.uk...

August 2024

July 2024