FEWER than one in 10 wildlife crimes now result in convictions, a report warned today.

Just 456 out of 4,735 reported wildlife crime incidents were successfully prosecuted last year, according to Wildlife & Countryside Link (Link): in 2019, more than half of 4,100 reported incidents led to convictions.

In its annual report, Link, a coalition of 86 organisations working to protect nature, said: “To put it simply, if you commit a wildlife crime, you are more likely to get away with it than you are with many other crimes.