Birds: Conservation

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many convictions there were for offences involving illegal theft of protected bird species from the wild in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. (168924)

The number of convictions for offences relating to the protection of bird species in each year since 1997 are shown in the following table:

*Number of defendants found guilty of part of section 1 of the Wildlife andCountryside Act 1981, England and Wales, 1997 to 2006*^1,2
	Number
1997	28
1998	20
1999	20
2000	15
2001	17
2002	11
2003	20
2004	52
2005	24
2006	87
¹ These data are on the principal offence basis. ² Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

The figures include convictions for the illegal killing, taking and injuring of wild birds, disturbing the dependent young of birds listed in schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and the possession of live and dead wild birds. It is not possible to identify separately convictions for illegal taking.

Volume 470: debated on Monday 7 January 2008