Jenny has welcomed the news that Defra and Home Office Ministers have agreed their respective departments will each provide the Wildlife Crime Unit with funding for the next four years.

Jones has already tabled a question to the Mayor, asking for him to lobby for it. Jones is also calling for the Mayor to commit to no cuts to the London unit.

She said: “This is great news for wildlife entering and moving about our country. It is vital in the battle to prevent illegal trafficking, selling, and possession of endangered species. As the Met is the only UK police force with a full time dedicated Wildlife Crime Unit it is now vital the Mayor commits to no further cuts to that units budget and falls in to line with the Government”

The funding recognises the important contribution the Unit makes to tackling wildlife crime. It will give the Unit significant financial stability and enable their vital work to continue until at least 2020. Those contributions will be in addition to the funding central Government provides to police forces in England and Wales to tackle all types of crime (including wildlife crime).

In addition, Defra will provide the Unit with up to £29,000 a year over the next four years for specific work to tackle wildlife crime conducted online, as a developing area of global criminal activity.

Government funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit jointly provided by Defra and the Home Office up to March 2020, including additional support from Defra to tackle online wildlife crime, will total £ 1.204 million.