February 2008

The annual Seminar of PAW partners took place on 27 February 2008 at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey. PAW is the UK's national forum for wildlife law enforcement support, and has been commended as a potential model for others. Over 100 delegates attended the Seminar representing UK's wildlife enforcement bodies along with Government and non government organisations who have an interest in promoting wildlife law enforcement.

The presentations given included an update of wildlife law enforcement activities in the UK during the last year.  The UK Government was delighted to announce that the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit had secured funding for the next three years to continue it’s important work.  One of the Unit’s priority work areas is to tackle the illegal trade in CITES species and more information can be found on their website at www.nwcu.police.uk.  A number of speakers spoke about recent prosecution cases and the Seminar ended with a lively debate on the way forward for PAW.

For more information, visit www.defra.gov.uk/paw.