Fight against wildlife crime continues
The fight against wildlife crime has been strengthened by a dedicated grant scheme that has been supporting a range of projects. Funding under the Partnership for Action againstWildlife Crime (PAW)
Scotland has been used for new and innovative schemes. Examples under the £170,000 committed so far include:
– The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland received £20,000 towards a wildlife DNA forensic testing laboratory.Work included the testing of samples for Scottish wildlife crime investigations in its first year.
– The University of Strathclyde used £5,000 for its work in linking the recovery of human DNA from animal parts to provide evidence of contact. This includes the linking of poison baits with vehicles, guns, containers and suspects.
– The Morvern deer poaching initiative received £8,000 to trial and develop a model to appoint and support a seasonal deer watcher to tackle locally intense deer poaching issues.
“Wildlife crime takes many forms,” commented minister for the environment and climate change Roseanna Cunningham, “from badger persecution and illegal poisoning of wild birds, to illegal fishing of freshwater pearl mussels and bat persecution. “This funding signals the Scottish Government’s clear and continuing intention
to tackle the root causes of wildlife crime and address the often harrowing suffering caused by wildlife crime to Scotland’s native wild animals.”
New seal laws welcomed
Laws banning the killing of seals in Scotland without a licence have come into force. In addition to outlawing unregulated shooting of seals, the measures under
the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 establish a new licensing system to manage shooting and introduce a number of seal conservation areas around Scotland. Marine Scotland will be responsible for implementing and monitoring the new measures. “Given the serious and worrying decline in the numbers of common or
‘harbour’ seals, these new measures are particularly important,” remarked John Baxter, SNH’s principal adviser on seals. “They’re a considerable improvement on provisions contained in previous
legislation. They provide a clear approach to seal conservation, while taking account of the needs of fisheries and fish farming interests to protect and manage their stocks.”
www.snh.gov.uk 21
NEWS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68