Staffordshire Police

Staffordshire Police have a team of specialized Wildlife Crime Officers stationed throughout the county, ready to deliver trust and confidence in wildlife crime to the community we serve. All of these officers have / will attend the National Wildlife Crime Officers Course. Between them they have many years of experience in dealing with Wildlife and Countryside Matters.

Wildlife crime is people buying, selling, harming or disturbing wild animals or plants that are protected by the law.  Wildlife crime has a direct impact on the economic, environmental and cultural lives of all of our communities, although this is not always obvious, this type of crime is not just restricted to rural areas and can take many forms. The old fashioned image of poachers taking a rabbit or a bird for the pot is a long way from the modern day reality. Today’s wildlife crime is centred around a multi million pound trade in endangered species from all over the world. Large scale developments which have an adverse effect on flora and fauna, as well as cruelty offences such as badger baiting and dog fighting are all common place.

European Law and Domestic law exists to protect wildlife in all its forms and Staffordshire Police do enforce the law, sometimes taking primacy in an investigation, sometimes assisting Statuary bodies such as Natural England (Opens in new window), the Environment Agency (Opens in new window), Local Authorities and DEFRA (Opens in new window) and also the charities such as the RSPCA (Opens in new window) and RSPB (Opens in new window).  The primary legislation is as follows;

• Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981
• Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996
• The Countryside & Rights of Way Act 2000
• Natural Environment & Rural Communities Act 2006
• Animal Welfare Act 2006
• The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) (International)
• The Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations 1997 (European)

Staffordshire Police is a member of the wider ‘Staffordshire Wildlife and Countryside Protection Group’. This group meets quarterly with the intention of making real progress by addressing wildlife and rural crime issues currently targeting communities within Staffordshire. Other members of this group include:

• Staffordshire County Council
• Local Authorities
• Natural England
• Staffordshire Badger Conservation Group
• National Gamekeepers Organisation
• RSPCA
• Forestry Commission
• Rangers (Peak Park / Cannock Chase)
• Gentleshaw Wildlife Centre
• British Wildlife Rescue Centre (Amerton Farm)
• Staffordshire Mammal Group
• Staffordshire Bat Group
• West Midlands Hedgehog Rescue Group
• Environment Agency / Consultants
• British Association for Shooting and Conservation
• Countryside Alliance
• League Against Cruel Sports
• Specialist Conservation Services

If you wish to contact a Wildlife Crime Officer for advice or to report an incident please ring 101.

If you have information which may assist us in the prevention or detection of Wildlife Crime and you do not wish to reveal your identity you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

You can contact us by e-mail on wildlife.crime@staffordshire.pnn.police.uk (Opens in new window)

Please do not report ongoing incidents via email. We aim to reply within two working days.