Wildlife and Countryside Act

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

Many of Britain’s wild plants and animals are legally protected. The main law dealing with this is the Wildlife and Countryside Act, which was passed in 1981. This act was amended by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which covers England and Wales but not Scotland. Wild birds and certain other wild animals (including some invertebrates) are legally protected.
• A schedule (Schedule 5) in the Wildlife and Countryside Act lists the animals other than birds that qualify for protection.
• The invertebrate species listed on Schedule 5 are shown in Table 1A.
• Schedule 5 is revised every five years. The fourth of these ‘quinquennial reviews’ is currently being carried out.

With certain exceptions and exemptions (see below), it is an offence (without a licence)
• intentionally to take animals listed on Schedule 5 from the wild
• intentionally to kill or injure these wild animals
• to possess any of these wild animals (live or dead, including all stages: eggs, caterpillars and pupae, as well as adults) or any part or derivative of them
• intentionally or (in England and Wales) recklessly to damage, destroy or obstruct the places these animals use for shelter and protection
• intentionally or (in England and Wales) recklessly to disturb these animals when they are using such places
• to trade in any of these wild animals (live or dead) or any part of them (see below).

Anyone found guilty of any of these offences could be fined or even imprisoned. In any proceedings, the animal in question is presumed to be wild unless (on the balance of probabilities) the contrary is shown to be the case.

Some animals are given only partial protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (see Table 1A). For example:
• Selling many butterfly species is illegal, but collecting common butterflies is generally not an offence unless it is carried out on a protected site. (NB. The Swallowtail, Large blue, Large copper, Marsh fritillary, High brown fritillary and Heath fritillary butterflies are fully protected, so collecting them without a licence is an offence.)
• The White clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) (the UK’s only native freshwater crayfish species) is protected only against taking from the wild and sale.
Exemptions
If the damage to or disturbance of a protected animal or its place of shelter can be shown to be “an incidental result of a lawful operation and could not reasonably have been avoided”, the person who did the damage is not guilty of an offence.

Other possible exemptions are concerned with:
• preventing serious damage to crops, livestock, etc.
• acting in the interests of animal health, public health or public safety
• damaging or obstructing a place of shelter when it is inside a house
• carrying out scientific investigations, rescue operations or wildlife photography involving protected animals under licence from the appropriate authority
• possessing protected species (e.g. in insect collections) which were taken from the wild without contravening the law (e.g. under licence or before legal protection was enacted). (NB. The large blue butterfly was the only invertebrate legally protected in Britain before 1981: it received protection under the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act 1975.)

Table 1A. Invertebrate Species Protected Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Species Listed on Schedule 5)