Lincolnshire Police has launched Operation Galileo 2019/2020 to tackle hare coursing. The number of reports of hare coursing has significantly decreased in Lincolnshire since 2016. The drones return to the force’s Operation Galileo effort, to tackle rural crime, along with the additional Ford Rangers and other marked & unmarked 4×4 vehicles which the force uses to respond […]

Police in North Yorkshire have warned poachers that their illegal behaviour will not be tolerated as autumn approaches. The seasonal trend of illegal hare coursing matches the farming calendar, meaning there is typically an increase in poaching offences in September and October, after crops have been harvested, and fields are left empty and open. North […]

The videos came to light after police and the RSPCA raided Leo Price’s home at the Brooks Green travellers site on Mangreen Lane, Keswick on June 11 2018. They found a cache of guns, ammunition and cannabis plants. Price was jailed for seven years on January 11 this year for possession of the firearms and […]

A fishing trip cost a Gloucester man more than £800 after he was caught fishing in the closed season and without a licence. Following a joint patrol with the Environment Agency, Angling Trust and Gloucestershire Police, Frank Cole was found guilty in his absence at Northampton Magistrates’ Court on 26 November for fishing during the […]

In November 2018, ten parties of poachers were apprehended and dealt with by West Mercia Police (WMP). During the activity numerous interviews have taken place and  an air weapon has been seized.  The activity comes as a result of information from the community, specifically an organised group called Poacherwatch. Poacherwatch is a group formed by […]

Three men have been arrested after a herd of 18 deer were shot dead in a field, West Mercia Police said. The deer were discovered on farmland on the edge of the Wyre Forest in Worcestershire on 4 August. A 59-year-old from Highley, Bridgnorth, a 35-year-old from Cleobury Mortimer and a 22-year-old from Kidderminster were […]

A hare courser has been fined £500 for using a dog to try to catch an animal at Glenrothes Airport. William McPhee was photographed at the aerodrome by a neighbour who saw the dog come within five metres of catching a brown hare. Poaching and hare coursing are offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 […]

A prolific hare courser and three others were handed fines totalling £2,695 after they were found guilty of trespassing on Lincolnshire land to hunt with dogs. Three men and a 17-year-old were fined in relation to a hare coursing incident at Gedny Hill on December 13, 2017. Aaron Smith, a 24-year-old prolific hare courser from […]

Tens of thousands of pounds is being gambled on illegal hare coursing events being live-streamed across the country via mobile phones, police have said. Landowners have reported a “terrifying” increase in illicit gatherings fuelled by the emerging technology-enabled black market in betting. More than a thousand incidents were reported in Lincolnshire alone during the 2017-18 season, […]

Operation launched to stamp out wildlife crime  An initiative aimed at stamping out illegal hare coursing events and illegal poaching in the Glenwherry areas of Ballymena and Larne, has been launched by Police along with partner agencies and the local community. Inspector Simpson said, “Following concerns raised by local farmers and landowners, local PSNI officers […]