Wildlife detective lays down the law

THERE’S less regard in Ireland for laws protecting wildlife than there is in Britain, a man who has been described as the ‘foremost wildlife detective in these islands’, suggests.

Alan Stewart, a retired police inspector who worked in Scotland, and who once specialised in poaching cases, believes the difference here is there are very strong lobby groups of which politicians and civil servants are wary, if not afraid.

Given the largely rural nature of the country until fairly recent times, Irish people were traditionally close to nature and, generally speaking, respected and loved animals.