Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 June 2020
1264. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of reported cases of wildlife illegal poisonings and or killings from January 2016 to April 2020, in tabular form; and if in each case a person or persons were prosecuted. [9393/20]
View answerMy Department does not keep a central register each incident reported on wildlife crimes given that many of these are reported by various means to the local conservation ranger of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). However, reports of the Raptor Protocol, which is a collaborative approach between my Department, the Regional Veterinary Laboratories, and the State Laboratory are published on-line annually and these provide records, information and analysis of mortality, poisoning and persecution of birds of prey. The following link provides all the relevant reports from 2011 to 2019: https://www.npws.ie/research-projects/animal-species/birds/raptor-protocol
In the period 2013 to date in 2020 some 90 prosecutions were taken by my Department for breaches of the Wildlife Acts ranging from illegal deer and hare hunting, the cutting of hedges and vegetation and the poisoning of bird species. My Department is compiling details of the number of prosecutions taken by the NPWS under the Wildlife Acts for the specific period in question relating to the illegal poisoning, hunting and killing of wildlife in the format requested by the Deputy and arrangements will be made to have these details sent to the Deputy. It is to be noted that officers of An Garda Síochána are also authorised under the Wildlife Acts to investigate and prosecute wildlife crimes.
