The problem

Many UK wildlife crimes occur under a veil of secrecy, with overstretched police forces to investigate and prosecute them. Poisoning, trapping, and being set upon by dogs are just some of the thousands of largely hidden and horrific acts of crime and cruelty inflicted on UK wild animals, including badgers, hares, bats and birds of prey.

IFAW’s latest report, Make wildlife matter, draws on research undertaken by Nottingham Trent University working in partnership with the University of Gloucestershire. The research findings paint a grim picture of a nation where wildlife crime is given low status. Crimes against animals in the wild do not count in the same way as other crimes involving drugs, firearms, and violence despite the long-recognised links between animal abuse and violence against people, and between serious organised crime and wildlife crime.

The solution

We are calling on the Government to protect our precious wildlife by introducing a number of measures, and as a starting point, making wildlife crimes 'notifiable'—this means counted within national statistics rather just at the local level.

Please help us reach our goal of 50,000 signatures by 3 March 2024. We want to reflect the strength of feeling on this when alongside our partners we call on the Home Office to make wildlife crimes notifiable. We need these crimes to be recorded in national statistics, to truly make wildlife matter!

By making these offences notifiable, the detection and prosecution of key wildlife crimes can be enhanced, and more criminal offenders brought to justice.