NGO Joins Partnership Against Wildlife Crime

5 March 2010

The National Gamekeepers' Organisation has joined PAW, the Partnership Against Wildlife Crime, to help ensure proper management of the countryside within the law.

PAW comprises representatives of the many bodies involved in wildlife law enforcement in the UK. It provides an opportunity for statutory bodies, like Defra, the Police and the UK Border Agency, to work with non-statutory bodies such as conservation organisations and species protection groups. Other shooting organisations have been partners for some time.

NGO Chairman, Lindsay Waddell, said:

"PAW is now a big organisation and a very broad church but on balance our committee decided the time was now right to get involved. By being in PAW we can help with sensible initiatives to combat wildlife crime whilst acting as a balance to the actions of some of our less sympathetic bedfellows. The Scottish Gamekeepers' Association has found that its membership of the equivalent body in Scotland has paid off."

The NGO's decision to join PAW followed a meeting between the organisation and the head of the police National Wildlife Crime Unit during 2009. The organisation will now be represented at the annual PAW seminar, being held in London on 9 March.