Question reference: S6W-05715
- Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 17 January 2022
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Current status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 31 January 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle incidents of hare coursing across the Mid Scotland and Fife region.
Answer
Operation Wingspan, a Police Scotland led partnership operation which ran from October 2020 – October 2021, was a year-long commitment to raising awareness of wildlife crime priorities, including hare coursing. Police Scotland also contributed to Operation Galileo in 2021, a UK wide hare coursing operation.
In the summer and autumn months of 2021, Police Scotland wildlife crime operations focused on hare coursing and poaching. This included a social media campaign, work with key stakeholders and awareness raising with local police stations.
Police Scotland is providing relevant training to 60 existing police officers which will enable them to undertake Wildlife Crime Officer duties on a part-time basis, ancillary to their core role.
A number of actions were taken in the Mid Scotland and Fife region including information on hare coursing being distributed to the farming community encouraging members to report incidents of hare coursing and advising them how to note key evidence in a safe manner. Wildlife crime officers and roads policing officers also conducted intelligence-led stops of vehicles and proactive patrols of hare coursing hot spots.