Specialist body tackling wildlife crime was set to close at the end of March but has been awarded four years’ worth of funding

The UK’s national wildlife crime unit (NWCU) has won a late reprieve from closure after the government announced new funding on Tuesday.

The specialist unit tackles wildlife crime from the killing of birds of prey and poaching of deer in the UK to the smuggling of endangered reptiles, birds and elephant ivory across the globe. It was set to close at the end of March, but environment minister Rory Stewart announced funding for four years in a statement to parliament.

“In recognition of the important contribution the unit makes to tackling wildlife crime, both at home and abroad, I can confirm that Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and Home Office ministers have agreed [to] each provide funding of £136,000 a year for the next four financial years,” said Stewart. “This will give the unit significant financial stability and enable their vital work to continue until at least 2020.”

National wildlife crime unit facing closure within weeks Read more

Stewart also said Defra would provide up to £29,000 a year for four years for specific work to tackle wildlife crime carried out online, a growing area of activity. The overall funding of the unit will remain at the same level as before.

“It’s great - I got nearly all that I asked for,” said Ch Insp Martin Sims, who leads the unit, where most of the staff faced losing their jobs. “I am really please it is a longer term settlement, which gives us stability and allows us to continue to deliver the fight against wildlife crime.” The previous settlement only covered two years.

“Online wildlife crime is huge, and it was a question of having the resources to deal with it,” said Sims. “The extra funding is a step in the right direction.”

Interpol estimates the illegal wildlife trade to be worth $10-20bn a year, the fourth most lucrative black market after drugs, people and arms smuggling and it is often linked to organised crime. The NWCU provides expert intelligence and analysis and carries out about 200 investigations a year, based on 35,000 intelligence logs.

Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, said: “The government have finally relented and seen sense. The work that the NWCU does combating these crimes is vital. But it should not have had to come to this. The government have promised to protect the police but this whole saga shows that their words and their deeds do not match up. They had to be pushed into funding the unit.”

Labour’s shadow environment minister, Alex Cunningham, said: “Like the [overall] police budget, funding for the NWCU has not been protected in real terms. With 18,000 police officers lost already under David Cameron, the growing complexity of international and domestic wildlife crime will put ever greater pressure on the resources and expertise of the NWCU.”



“Wildlife crimes such as hare coursing, badger baiting and persecution of birds of prey, cause immense suffering and threaten some of our most treasured wild species,” said Claire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International/UK said. “The essential work of this unit deserves long-term, cross-party funding commitment, so that it does not labour under the threat of closure every few years.”

Dominic Dyer, policy adviser for the Born Free Foundation and CEO of the Badger Trust, said: “For the government to waste over £25m killing badgers but refuse to find less than £500,000 to fund the NWCU to tackle wildlife crime would have been a national disgrace.”

In addition to money from Defra and the Home Office, the NWCU also receives funds from the National Police Chiefs Council, the Scottish government and the Northern Ireland administration, almost all of which has been confirmed.