System set to fail – prosecuting wildlife crime

Criminals who inflict immense suffering on wild animals, such as beating to death, poisoning, or smuggling across borders illegally, are evading justice and penalties in the UK, according to new research.

The report ‘System set to fail – prosecuting wildlife crime’ was commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) from criminologists at Nottingham Trent University (now at Anglia Ruskin University) and the University of Gloucestershire. It extensively documents first-hand accounts of those working on the front line of wildlife crime, providing a bleak overview of why so many cases do not result in prosecution. 

It revealed cases were often unsuccessful due to a lack of resources, training, inconsistent approaches to gathering evidence, and the absence of a centralised recording system for wildlife crime. 

The report follows IFAW’s urgent calls in 2023 to make wildlife crime a ‘notifiable offence’.