Crackdown on deer poaching

TWO police forces have announced plans for a joint offensive to combat an upsurge of “barbaric” deer poaching.

It was revealed yesterday that a gang of poachers, pursuing roe deer, came close to causing a major pile-up on a busy dual carriageway as the panicked animals fled across a four-lane approach to a motorway.

The joint crackdown on deer poaching and deer coursing is being staged by Tayside Police and Fife Constabulary, backed by the Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime (PAW) in Scotland. The two forces will be carrying out joint weekend patrols with the Scottish SPCA and the British Association for Shooting and Conservation.

Constable Ian Laing, the wildlife crime co-ordinator for Fife Constabulary, explained: “There are certain communities where deer poaching and deer coursing is more rife than others. We do have pockets of poachers all over the place and they are prepared to travel quite widely to involve themselves in poaching.”

He said reports suggested most of the illegal venison was being sold on the streets.

He added: “We have intelligence suggesting the venison is being sold in the street outside shops, with people approaching motorists in their parked cars.”