Wildlife Crime in Scotland 2024
Statistics on wildlife crime in Scotland.
Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals – Special Investigation Unit
The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Scottish SPCA) and their Special Investigations Unit (SIU) can lead or support certain wildlife crime investigations in Scotland. Powers are granted to suitably trained staff by Scottish Ministers under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006. These powers were extended in limited circumstances through the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 and came into force in October 2024.
Scottish SPCA inspectors deal with routine domestic and wildlife welfare cases, however the SIU has a slightly different remit dealing with cases which are linked to illegal activities often involving serious and organised crime groups. The SIU deals with both wildlife incidents and incidents involving domestic animals such as dogfighting and the puppy trade. Some of the SIU’s work involves incidents where there is both a domestic animal and wildlife element such as badger baiting.
Data in this section are presented up to 2023-24.
The SIU estimate that between April 2023 and March 2024 they received:
- 18 pieces of information for consideration from the Scottish SPCA helpline
- 97 pieces of information from other sources. Upon investigation, some pieces of information may relate to incidents that after investigation are found to not be the result of crime, may not actually involve wildlife, or are duplicate pieces of information relating to the same incident
The SIU report cases directly to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). As a result, any crimes or suspected crimes investigated solely by the Scottish SPCA, shown in Table 33 of the supporting documents, will not appear in the Police recorded crime statistics. If reported for prosecution however, they will be included in the COPFS figures, and those cases will have been given a Scottish Criminal Records Office (SCRO) number.
The SIU investigated 71 wildlife crime incidents in 2023-24, 37 of which related to wildlife crime priority areas (28 badger persecution; 9 raptor persecution). Of the other 34 incidents, the majority related to trapping and snaring. In addition, the SIU assisted in 61 investigations led by Police Scotland, as shown in Figure 13.
The Scottish SPCA SIU was involved in 132 wildlife crime investigations in 2023-24.
Figure 13: number of wildlife crime investigations according to Scottish SPCA SIU involvement, 2019-20 to 2023-24.
Not all incidents identified as crimes will provide sufficient evidence for a prosecution to be progressed to COPFS. In 2023-24, three cases were reported to COPFS, all relating to trapping or snaring.
Further detail: see Tables 32 and 33 of the supporting documents.