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Posted: 19th February 2016

Wildlife police unit faces closure
Parrot
The NWCU assists in the prevention and detection of offences such as the illegal trade in parrots.
Government funding will run out in a few weeks

A wildlife police unit faces closure in weeks unless the government is able to renew its funding.

Established in 2006, the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) assists in the prevention and detection of offences such as poaching, illegal trade and cruelty to wild animals.

The organisation receives much of its funding from Defra and the Home Office. But when chancellor George Osborne announced the spending review in November, it was not confirmed whether the organisation would receive funding beyond the end of March.

The body is now expected to close within a few weeks if funding cannot be found.

Speaking to The Guardian, chief inspector Martin Sims, head of the NWCU, said that closure of the unit would lead to the vast majority of wildlife crime going undetected.

“We are by far the cheapest option for policing across the UK in terms of support to wildlife crime,” he said.

He added that closure of the unit would also mean there wouldn’t be sufficient UK infrastructure to gather intelligence on wildlife crimes.

Echoing Inspector Sims disappointment, Josh Kaile, head of public affairs at World Animal Protection UK, said: “Not only is this a slap in the face to the hard-working staff in the NWCU but it makes you wonder whether our government cares at all about our wildlife.”

In response to the closure, over 9,000 people have signed a petition calling for the government to continue funding the agency.



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