Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, for what reason a record of the species involved is not collated when recording prosecutions of poaching offences.

Offences of poaching are usually charged under one of the following:

• Section 1 of the Night Poaching Act 1828,
• section 30 of the Game Act 1831 or
• section 2 of the Poaching Prevention Act 1862.

There is no requirement to specify in an offence which type of animal the defendant was seeking to take or had taken, and in many cases it is not specified.

Therefore, the CPS is not able to keep any records of which species are involved in its prosecutions for poaching.