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More than 6,000 eggs have been seized in the biggest haul of its kind in UK history, after police carried out raids in Scotland, South Yorkshire, Essex, Wales and Gloucester. Thousands of eggs were found secreted in attics, offices and drawers.
The UK raids took place in November as part of Operation Pulka, an international effort to tackle organised wildlife crime – specifically the taking, possessing and trading of wild birds’ eggs. The raids began in June 2023 in Norway, and resulted in 16 arrests and the seizure of 50,000 eggs. In Australia, an estimated 3,500 eggs have been seized, worth up to A$500,000 (£250,000).
Intelligence suggests this is a single, international crime network. The National
Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) says it is the largest of its kind in the UK in terms of the number of eggs and the scale of the network
.
DI Mark Harrison from NWCU said: “These criminals are very well organised and connected. The rarer a species is, the higher its demand and value to these criminals. It is likely some of the eggs are very rare.”
“The scale of this operation is alarming”, said Dominic Meeks from the University of Cambridge. “Previous seizures have been the product of singular obsessive individuals, but the complexity of this operation appears to be far greater, with numerous actors operating in different countries. The larger the scale of the operation, the greater the potential for negative impacts on the target species’ wild populations.”
Egg collecting was a hobby for natural historians in Victorian times, with collectors looking to acquire eggs from all species, particularly rare ones, which were the most prized. This had a terrible impact on some species. The great auk – a penguin-like bird of the north pole – was hunted to extinction for its meat and large eggs, with the UK’s last bird killed in the 1840s in St Kilda.
Most wild egg collecting became a criminal act in the UK in 1954 – but some collectors continued and went underground. All wild birds, including their nests and eggs, are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
“Egg thievery represents a highly selective pressure, with thieves often targeting a handful of species within a restricted geographic range,” said Meeks. “For species such as the nightjar and osprey, which have precarious regional populations across the UK, the successful fledging of a cohort of chicks from a single nest may be the difference between regional existence or extinction.”
Harrison said: “The taking, possessing and trading of wild bird eggs is illegal and, overall, it is believed that these crimes are less common than they were. However, clearly it still goes on and as the overall number of birds is declining it can be argued that this crime has an even greater impact now than it did years ago.”
Earlier this year
a UN report found wildlife trafficking was causing “untold harm upon nature”, with more than 4,000 species around the world being targeted, including rare orchids, succulent plants, reptiles, birds and fish. The trade is active in more than 80% of countries. Some estimates suggest the illegal wildlife trade could be worth as much as
$23bn (£18bn) a year.
“The trade in wild bird eggs has a historical dimension and has been a widespread practice in the past, often driven by the objective of creating extensive collections,” said Dr Diogo Veríssimo from the University of Oxford. “Wildlife crime contributes to biodiversity loss, placing additional pressure on species already vulnerable due to factors such as habitat loss and climate change. In addition to its environmental impacts, wildlife crime is often connected to broader criminal activities, including trafficking, corruption and financial crimes.”
Experts will spend the coming months counting the eggs, identifying which species they come from, and how much the haul is worth.
www.theguardian.com
