Alert over badger baiters

3rd March 2003 - BBC News

Police say criminals from inner city areas are travelling to rural parts of Staffordshire to take part in poaching and illegal sports.

Officers in Uttoxeter say badger baiting, poaching and dog fighting is on the increase - with criminals travelling from cities to take part.

Farmers, landowners and gamekeepers are becoming increasingly concerned about the problem.

And the criminals are now more sophisticated, with men using false DEFRA ID cards in Waterhouses to gain access to land where they searched for badger setts.

Over the past few weeks, deer have been found dead on land near Uttoxeter after lurchers were let loose on them.

PC Richard Boulter, from Uttoxeter Police, said the only way to deter this sort of crime was through stronger punishments in court.

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2815097.stm