Four men have been arrested and charged in connection with wildlife crime offences across the Scottish Borders, Midlothian, East Lothian and Stirling. Between Sunday, 1 March, 2020, and Wednesday, 29 April, 2020, officers received a number of reports of possible hare coursing activity in the Stirling, Haddington, Duns, Kelso, Gifford and Kippen areas. On Wednesday, […]

Police in Gloucestershire have reported a spate of poaching incidents in April in the Cotswolds. There have been six separate poaching incidents in the past few weeks.  The Rural Crime Team released a series of graphic images on Twitter of dead deer which had been found on land close to Sapperton, Calmsden, and Cheerington. In […]

A man has made subject of a Criminal Behaviour Order for hare coursing – a first for Essex Police – after we responded to reports in West Hanningfield. Samuel Haylett, 30, of Barnes Road, Fimley, Camberley, was ordered to pay a £440 fine, £85 costs and a £44 victim surcharge at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on […]

Jimmy Price was today found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a horse and two dogs. A video played to the court showed the dogs, Scout and Tramp, untethered and unfed at the 25-year-old’s home address in Forstal Farm, Loose. The father-of-two was previously convicted in December after repeatedly stabbing a deer. He was also caught […]

A suspected hare courser has been jailed for two months after leading police on a dangerous pursuit, reaching speeds of nearly 100mph. Nelson Hedges, 32, was reported to police by members of the public who were concerned he had been hare coursing in his silver Mazda Tribute near Iselham, Cambridgeshire. The force’s Rural Crime Action […]

Lincolnshire Police has launched Operation Galileo 2019/2020 to tackle hare coursing. The number of reports of hare coursing has significantly decreased in Lincolnshire since 2016. The drones return to the force’s Operation Galileo effort, to tackle rural crime, along with the additional Ford Rangers and other marked & unmarked 4×4 vehicles which the force uses to respond […]

Police in North Yorkshire have warned poachers that their illegal behaviour will not be tolerated as autumn approaches. The seasonal trend of illegal hare coursing matches the farming calendar, meaning there is typically an increase in poaching offences in September and October, after crops have been harvested, and fields are left empty and open. North […]

The videos came to light after police and the RSPCA raided Leo Price’s home at the Brooks Green travellers site on Mangreen Lane, Keswick on June 11 2018. They found a cache of guns, ammunition and cannabis plants. Price was jailed for seven years on January 11 this year for possession of the firearms and […]

A fishing trip cost a Gloucester man more than £800 after he was caught fishing in the closed season and without a licence. Following a joint patrol with the Environment Agency, Angling Trust and Gloucestershire Police, Frank Cole was found guilty in his absence at Northampton Magistrates’ Court on 26 November for fishing during the […]

In November 2018, ten parties of poachers were apprehended and dealt with by West Mercia Police (WMP). During the activity numerous interviews have taken place and  an air weapon has been seized.  The activity comes as a result of information from the community, specifically an organised group called Poacherwatch. Poacherwatch is a group formed by […]