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Publication - Statistics

Wildlife Crime in Scotland 2024

Published
27 February 2026
Directorate
Environment and Forestry Directorate
Topic
Environment and climate change, Farming and rural, Law and order, +1 more … Marine and fisheries

Statistics on wildlife crime in Scotland.

Supporting documents

Bat persecution

Bats and their roosts are protected by the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994, which gives strict legal protection to all species listed under Annex IV of the EU Habitats Directive – known as European Protected Species (EPS). Scotland's bat population is relatively small compared to other parts of the UK. Bats, their breeding sites and resting places are at particular risk from development works and evidencing the presence of bats in these cases can be very challenging.

There was a single recorded bat persecution offence in 2023-24, and eight offences in 2024-25.
Figure 17: bat persecution offences recorded by Police Scotland, 2019-20 to 2024-25.

Bar chart showing number of bat persecution offences recorded by Police Scotland from 2019-20 to 2024-25.

All of the bat persecution offences recorded in 2023-24 and 2024-25 related to damage, destruction or obstruction to bat roosts.

Further detail: see Tables 47 and 48 of the supporting documents for information on bat persecution offences by police division, offence summary and date.

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