Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data her Department has received on incidents involving the use of catapults or slingshots against wildlife since January 2024; and whether those data identify (a) police force area, (b) species, (c) suspected offender age and (d) criminal justice outcome.

Wildlife crimes, including those involving the use of catapults/slingshots, are not notifiable to the UK Home Office so there are no official statistics or identifiable trends relating to these crimes.

Any decision to make wildlife offences notifiable would sit with the Home Office, not Defra.

Defra does, however, take crimes against wildlife seriously and is aware of the ongoing and horrific misuse of catapults against wild animals.

Defra is supportive of the multi-agency Operation Lakeshot, led by the League Against Cruel Sports, which aims to reduce the number of crimes against wildlife using catapults.