FOI 18595

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: HRC0018595/26

 

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 7^th July 2026. Please find below the response to your request:

 

we would be grateful if you could provide the following information:

1. The count of offences of "animal-related" crime you recorded on your system in 2025/26. Please see below for our exact definition of "animal-related" crime.
2. Total count of offences of "animal-related" crime you recorded on your system in 2025/26, by offence code.
3. Total count of offences of "animal-related" crime you recorded in 2025/26, by outcome.
4. Total number of incidents recorded as "Animals/wildlife" in 2025/26.
5. The total number of calls with a call type 'animal', 'wildlife' or 'animal/wildlife' within STORM (if STORM is used) in 2025/26.
6. Any known reason for why recorded reports might be lower than true volume of incidents.

 

Please provide this data for the 2025/26 financial year (date range 01/04/2025 - 31/03/2026).

 

For the purposes of this request, we define "animal-related crime" as any incident which is logged against any of the following pieces of legislation:

 

Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963; Animal Health Act 1981; Animal Welfare Act 2006; Dangerous Dogs Act 1991; Deer Act 1991 Sec 1, 2, 3; Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953; Game Act 1831 Sec 30; Hunting Act 2004 Sec 1, 3(1), 5; Night Poaching Act 1828 Sec 1; Pet Abduction Act 2024 Sec 1 and 2; Poaching Prevention Act 1862 Sec 2; Protection of Badgers Act 1992; Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975; Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Quota Measures) Order 1988; Sea Fishing (Prohibition on Removal of Shark Fins) Order 2007 Sec 4,5,12; Sexual Offences Act 2003 Sec 69(1)(3) and Sec 69(2)(3); The Control of Dogs Order 1992; Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966; Welfare of Farmed Animals Regulations 2007; Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996; Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

 

 

 

Reply

 

West Mercia Police have conducted searches, and I can confirm that we hold some of the requested information.

 

Caveat: We are unable to filter investigations using the legislation. To obtain relevant codes/offence titles we have used Home Office published “notifiable offence and notifiable reported incidents April 2026” document. If the legislation was not listed, we have searched the Police National Legal Database. No relevant codes were found for offences recorded under the “Veterinary surgeons act 1966”.

 

There were 4 codes for offences recorded under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 for which there are no results;

097/02 Carrying out, permitting, causing to be carried out or failing to prevent prohibited procedure on a protected animal

097/03 Removing or causing or permitting or failing to prevent removal of dog’s tail other than for medical treatment

097/04 Administration of poisons etc to a protected animal

097/05 Offences relating to animal fights

 

Offences recorded under the Animal Health Act 1981 are recorded using the Home Office Classification of 099/99 which is used for a number of miscellaneous offences. Therefore, offences have been reviewed that were returned using this code and none related to animals/wildlife.

 

 

1. The count of offences of "animal-related" crime you recorded on your system in 2025/26. Please see below for our exact definition of "animal-related" crime.
2. Total count of offences of "animal-related" crime you recorded on your system in 2025/26, by offence code.

 

Number of investigations recorded within identified Home Office Codes by Investigation Type, Home Office Classification and Primary Full Offence Title	Total
CRIME	1001
008/21	830
Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in any place in England or Wales (whether or not a public place) injuring any person or assistance dog	830
049/03	31
Abduction of pet dog/cat	31
088/03	1
Intercourse with an animal by a male	1
097/01	62
Carrying out, permitting, causing to be carried out or failing to prevent prohibited procedure on a protected animal	1
Causing, permitting or failing to prevent unnecessary suffering of protected animal	61
098/95	4
Attempted - Fish / take fish by other than licensable means in circumstances where fish / taking may or may not be authorised, or possess unlicensed instrument with intent to fish / take fish or without a S27A authority	1
Fish / take fish by other than licensable means in circumstances where fish / taking may or may not be authorised, or possess unlicensed instrument with intent to fish / take fish or without a S27A authority	3
108/29	6
Animal Welfare Act 2006, Causing, permitting or failing to prevent unnecessary suffering	6
111/05	56
Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953, Dogs worrying livestock on agricultural land	56
121/11	1
Deer Acts 1991, Killing or injuring deer by shooting, trap, snares etc	1
121/13	5
Hunting Act 2004 - Hunting a wild mammal with a dog	5
121/16	2
Hunting Act 2004 - Participating in a hare coursing event	2
121/20	3
Hunting Act 2004 - Controlling or handling a dog at a hare coursing event	2
Hunting Act 2004 - Entering a dog for a hare coursing event	1
Grand Total	1001

 

 

3. Total count of offences of "animal-related" crime you recorded in 2025/26, by outcome.

 

Number of investigations recorded within identified Home Office Codes by Outcome	Total
Type 1 - Charged/Summonsed/Postal Requisition	32
Type 1A - Charged/Summons - alternate offence. Offender has been charged under the alternate offence rule.	1
Type 2 - Caution Youth	1
Type 3 - Caution Adult	19
Type 3A - Caution Adult - alternate offence. Offender has been given a simple caution under the alternate offences rule.	1
Adult Caution - conditional	1
Type 8 - Community resolution (Crime)	167
Type 9 - Prosecution Not In the Public Interest (CPS)	1
Type 10 - Formal Action Against Offender is not in the Public Interest (Police)	5
Type 11 - Prosecution Prevented-Named Suspect Identified But Is Below The Age Of Criminal Responsibility	1
Type 12 - Prosecution Prevented-Named Suspect Identified But Is Too Ill (Physical Or Mental Health) To Prosecute, or confirmed died either before crime reported or before enough evidence to charge	2
Type 14 - Evidential Difficulties Victim Based- Suspect Not Identified: Crime Confirmed But The Victim Either Declines Or Unable To Support Further Police Investigation To Identify The Offender	70
Type 15 - Named Suspect Identified: Victim Supports Police Action But Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action	130
Type 16 - Named Suspect Identified: Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action: Victim Does Not Support (Or Has Withdrawn Support From) Police Action	304
Type 18 - Investigation Complete; No Suspect Identified. Crime Investigated As Far As Reasonably Possible-Case Closed Pending Further Investigative Opportunities Becoming Available	223
Type 20 - Further action resulting from the crime report will be undertaken by another body or agency subject to the victim (or person acting on their behalf) being made aware of the act to be taken	7
Type 21 - Further investigation resulting from crime report which could provide evidence sufficient to support formal action against the suspect is not in the public interest - police decision.	1
Type 22 - Diversionary, educational or intervention activity, resulting from the crime report, has been undertaken and it is not in the public interest to take any further action.	9
Ongoing Investigation	30
Grand Total	1005

 

4. Total number of incidents recorded as "Animals/wildlife" in 2025/26.

 

Nil return - all of the identified investigations are recorded as Crimes

 

5. The total number of calls with a call type 'animal', 'wildlife' or 'animal/wildlife' within STORM (if STORM is used) in 2025/26.

 

Number of calls in call management system closed with a closure type of PS-Animals/Wildlife	Total
PS-Animals/Wildlife	1599

 

6. Any known reason for why recorded reports might be lower than true volume of incidents.

 

Please be advised that this is not a valid request for information under the Freedom of information Act 2000 (“the Act”) as it does not fulfil the requirement of s.8 of the Act. It is not a request for specific recorded information and West Mercia Police does not have to answer your request if this would mean creating new information or giving an opinion or judgement that is not already recorded. The Act only extends to requests for recorded information. It does not require public authorities to answer questions generally and does not extend to requests for information about policies or their implementation, or the merits or demerits of any proposal or action unless the answer to any such request is already held in recorded form.