The table provides details of the number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in England and Wales for the years 1996 to 2006.
Data for all of the offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 for years prior to 1996 are not held by my Department or the Ministry of Justice.
The data with which the Ministry of Justice has provided me cannot separately identify the animals affected unless specified in the Act.
Court proceedings data for 2007 will be available in the autumn of 2008.
Number proceeded against Statute Offence Description 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 S.28P as added by Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 Sch.9 Carrying out or causing to permit to be carried out any operation likely to damage part of an area of special scientific interest subject to notification by Nature Conservancy Council — — — — — — — 2 3 2 1 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 S.19ZA(8) as added by Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 Sch.12 Falsely pretending, with intent to deceive, to be a wildlife inspector — — — — — — — — — — — Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 S.14, S.14(1)(A), and S.21 Other indictable offences not specified elsewhere — — — — 1 — — — — — — Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Sec 8 Protection of captive birds 2 8 2 1 6 3 2 — 1 2 1 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Sec 9 Protection of certain wild animals 6 5 — 3 — 4 4 3 4 7 22 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Sec 11 Prohibition of certain methods of killing or taking wild animals 1 2 3 4 — 2 2 1 — — 2 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 S.28Q as added by Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 Sch.9 Change of owner or occupier in area of special scientific interest failing to comply with requirements — — — — — — — — — — 1 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 S.19ZB(9)(a, b, c) as added by Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 Sch. 12 Intentionally obstructing a wildlife inspector acting in the exercise of the power conferred by ss(3). Failing without reasonable excuse to make available any specimen in accordance with a requirement under ss(2), (4) or (7) — — — — — — — — — — — Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Sec1 Protection of wild birds 33 36 29 28 23 22 19 29 57 28 95 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Sec 1 Protection of nests and eggs of wild birds 9 24 19 14 10 31 10 17 18 16 22 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Sec 3 Protection of wild birds in sanctuaries — — — — — — — 1 — — — Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Sec 3 Protection of the nests and eggs of wild birds in sanctuaries — — — — — — — — — — — Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Sec 3 Illegal entry into bird sanctuaries — — — — — 1 — — — — — Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Sec 5 Prohibition of certain methods of killing or taking wild birds 8 8 3 7 5 2 4 3 4 5 4 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Sec 6 Sale etc. of live or dead wild birds, eggs etc. 4 2 3 2 4 1 — 1 1 2 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Sec 17 False statements made for obtaining registration or licence etc. — 1 — 1 — — 2 — 1 2 — Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Sec 7 Registration etc. of certain captive birds 3 2 — 2 2 — 2 2 1 — — 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. 3 Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. Source: Court Proceedings Database held by RDS-OCJR, Ministry of Justice