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Flaws in current legislation
The law on Badger Protection is NOT WORKING
Many people think that badger baiting has stopped in Britain because there is a 1992 Protection of Badgers Act. Nothing could be further from the truth. 10,000 badgers are killed illegally each year and that figure is forecast to double. Badger baiters know that successful police prosecutions are rare making the chances of arrest virtually zero. In addition, the baiters now use increasingly sophisticated methods to detect the badger. Hard core baiters are usually in teams of six to ten thugs and use radios and tracking devices to make sure that they find badgers for their “sport.” They are prepared to travel long distances to get their quarry and carry veterinary medicines to treat their dogs that are concealed in their vehicles. As if all that wasn’t enough, these thugs are extremely dangerous usually with prior convictions for other crimes – we are not talking here about speeding convictions or petty theft – these individuals are in a different league. Today’s badger baiters are often mixed up with crimes such as paedophile activities, gun offences; class A drug dealing and grievous bodily harm.
The root cause of the lack of badger related prosecutions is due to the fact that badger baiting is not a notifiable offence. Offences committed under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 can only be tried in Magistrates Courts, which means they are summary only and are not notified to the Home Office. These offences are therefore excluded from the publicly-available statistics that compare the performance of each police constabulary. These statistics act as an incentive for the police to predominantly focus their work towards notifiable offences, leaving the violent crime of badger baiting to continue with minimal interference.
The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 does not include any details of whether officers have the powers to access land nor whether they have powers of arrest. Although other Acts permit the entering of land and arresting badger diggers/baiters at the scene of a crime, not reinforcing this in The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 could result in misinterpretation.
Power of Arrest - There is a general power of arrest given to officers under Sec 24 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 as amended by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. This provides a power of arrest for any offence subject to a necessity test.
Power of entry to land - There is no power of entry onto land under the Badgers Act but common law powers of entry will usually suffice. If an animal is involved and is believed to be in distress as defined under the new Animal Welfare Act 2006 then there is a power of entry under Sec 19 of that act. Further powers under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 may be relevant if badgers are being killed or injured by the use of a prohibited method, i.e. snares or nets. Failing these, a warrant may now be applied for under Sec 19 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 as amended by the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006.
Illegal Habitat Destruction For developers, fines are tiny compared to the costs of compliance. [Report extract]
No commentThe group Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime has “no view on making badger baiting a notifiable offence” according to its co-chairman. Tory MP Anthony Steen asked this oral question in Parliament in July 2004: “If he will propose legislation to remove badgers' protected status, and does the Minister not accept that badgers are vermin and have no known predators?” (The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 was made law by his party when in government.) “Police Wildlife Officers? I am not interested in their views.” When Richard Brunstrom, Head of Wildlife Crime, Association of Chief Police Officers was told that PWCO’s want badger crime to be made an notifiable offence. “While there may well be scope for improvements in the law, I must stress that there is currently enormous pressure on the legislative programme and I don’t foresee an early opportunity to revise the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.” Ben Bradshaw, Minister for Animal Welfare DEFRA. |
