Watchdog reassured over North Yorkshire Police wildlife crime actions
Date of alert:
Wednesday, 8 February 2023
Crime Ref:
Force:
North Yorkshire Police
A watchdog charged with holding to account a police commissioner responsible for one of Britain’s worst wildlife crime hotspots has been reassured more effective actions to tackle offenders have been launched.
Chairman of the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel, Councillor Carl Les, said his committee of elected members of York, North Yorkshire and district councillors as well as experts, welcomed progress being made over offences such as hare coursing, poaching and raptor persecution.
The comments come just weeks after it was revealed four hen harrier chicks had been stamped to death in their nest on an unnamed grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park near Whernside.
In November, the RSPB said its latest figures showed North Yorkshire as the country’s third worst bird of prey persecution hotspot, with ten recorded incidents in 2021.
