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<p>The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is the lead
Government department for policy and legislation in relation to animal welfare, including
offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The police and local authorities have
powers to enforce that Act, but any person or organisation (such as the RSPCA) can
initiate criminal proceedings under it.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to the Government's
funding for individual police forces to tackle all types of crime, including wildlife
crime, the Home Office and DEFRA both contribute funding to support the work of the
National Wildlife Crime Unit, the national police unit dedicated to tackling wildlife
crime. And where wildlife crimes are sufficiently serious, organised or complex, the
National Crime Agency will ensure that partners across the law enforcement community
benefit from its coordination, tasking and intelligence arrangements, as well as being
able to access its specialist capabilities. Furthermore, the Home Office plays a key
role in the Government's efforts to tackle the illegal wildlife trade, which is a
serious transnational criminal industry worth billions of pounds each year. I was
therefore pleased that, at the recent London Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference which
I attended, world leaders from over forty countries made a commitment to eradicate
the trade.</p><p> </p><p>The Home Office also regulates the use of living animals
in scientific procedures in England, Scotland and Wales under the Animals (Scientific
Procedures) Act 1986.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
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