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.
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