They are not the flying squad, but many of the inhabitants of London they serve and protect are.

The Metropolitan Police have two officers devoted to fighting crimes against animals, protecting everything from swans, stag beetles, dormice and water voles, all the way through to tigers.

People who trap and serve up goldfinches in restaurants, or behead and eat swans are in their sights.

As are greedy developers who sweep bat nests and badger setts away, risking a £50,000 fine but standing to make millions on property deals.

And while protecting animals may initially seem like the fluffy side of policing in London, the job throws up some strange situations and people with links to serious organised crime are involved.

Criminals are often attracted to hare coursing or badger baiting, police say. When the team raided a packed east London, notorious for the illegal sale of birds, many of the men picked up had other criminal interests linking them to serious crimes.

Sergeant Ian Knox said: “People really do like their wildlife and when they see people behaving like this and it happening in their own back yard they are upset and don’t feel comfortable or safe. This is something we need to tackle.”

Another challenge faced is the persistence of the criminals and collectors. In Kingston, egg collectors, the sale of wild caught finches, shooting deer and attacks on swans and other birds have all been reported to the team.

Peregrine falcons are protected but at least one obsessive collector and repeat offender has shown they would rather face a six month stint in prison rather than put an end to the illicit thrill of adding to their catalogue of eggs.

Even pigeons fall under the protection of the law. If councils let pigeon nets fall into disrepair and pigeons are trapped and starve they can be liable. Shooting pigeons, as Kingston town centre managers resorted to several years ago, is legal though.

Chinese medicine practitioners who use rhino horns, tigers, elephants, tortoises, seahorses and a number of endangered plants, have been a big focus for the team in south-west London, and legitimate traders have opted to go herbal.

The Federation of Traditional Chinese Medicine supports the police’s Operation Charm campaign, which asks shops to display a sticker to show they do not sell products from endangered species.

According to Professor Boying Ma, chairman of the federation, in Upper Mulgrave Road, Sutton, traders have adapted.

He said: “Now we know endangered species are in a very dangerous situation. Before the 1980s in Chinese medicine we used quite a lot - tiger bones, sea horses for impotence.

“Chinese medicines are very flexible, so we can use other herbs and things. But police have told me there is a black market.”

Kingston’s Wildlife Crime Officer is Hayley Parkes. Call 020 8721 2588 or 07876 790197 or email hayley.parkes@met.police.uk.

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