Editing Poaching (section)

== Legal aspects ==
[[File:Tom Thomson Poacher.jpg|thumb|''The Poacher'', 1916 sketch by [[Tom Thomson]], Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto]]
In 1998, [[Environmental science|environmental scientists]] from the [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]] proposed the concept of poaching as an [[environmental crime]] and defined as any illegal activity that contravenes the [[law]]s and regulations established to protect renewable [[natural resource]]s, including the illegal harvest of [[wildlife]] with the intention of [[possession (law)|possessing]], [[transport]]ing, consuming or [[sales|selling]] it and using its body parts. They considered poaching as one of the most serious threats to the survival of plant and animal populations.<ref name="Muth1998" /> [[Wildlife biologist]]s and [[conservation biology|conservationists]] consider poaching to have a detrimental effect on [[biodiversity]] both within and outside [[protected area]]s as wildlife populations decline, [[species]] are depleted locally, and the functionality of [[ecosystem]]s is disturbed.<ref name="Lindsey2012">{{cite book |author1=Lindsey, P. |author2=Balme, G. |author3=Becker, M. |author4=Begg, C. |author5=Bento, C. |author6=Bocchino, C. |author7=Dickman, A. |author8=Diggle, R. |author9=Eves, H. |author10=Henschel, P. |author11=Lewis, D. |author12=Marnewick, K. |author13=Mattheus, J. |author14=McNutt, J. W. |author15=McRobb, R. |author16=Midlane, N., Milanzi, J., Morley, R., Murphree, M., Nyoni, P., Opyene, V., Phadima, J., Purchase, N., Rentsch, D., Roche, C., Shaw, J., van der Westhuizen, H., Van Vliet, N., Zisadza, P. |year=2012 |title=Illegal hunting and the bush-meat trade in savanna Africa: drivers, impacts and solutions to address the problem |location=New York |publisher=Panthera, [[Zoological Society of London]], [[Wildlife Conservation Society]] }}</ref>

=== Continental Europe ===
[[File: Das Ende des Wildschuetzen.jpg|thumb|End of the poacher, illustration based on a painting by August Dieffenbacher, 1894]]
[[File: Schliersee JennerweinGrab.jpg|thumb|Grave of a poacher in Schliersee, quoting the first stanza of the Jennerwein song. Now and then, poached game is being placed on the grave to commemorate 'Girgl'.]]
[[File:Marterl Riederstein.jpg|thumb|[[Wayside shrine|Marterl]] at the Riederstein, near [[Baumgartenschneid]], Tegernsee. The remains of a poacher, who had never returned from a hunting expedition in 1861, were found at the site in 1897.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://bergundtotschlag.wordpress.com/tag/leonhard-pottinger/ |title=Leonhard Pöttinger {{!}} Berg und Totschlag (Poettinger – mountain and murder) |last=Bauer |first=D. |date=2013 |website=bergundtotschlag.wordpress.com|access-date=2016-09-10}}</ref>]]
Austria and Germany refer to poaching not as theft but as intrusion into third-party hunting rights.<ref name=Girtler1998>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qlZPi7LkeH4C |title=Wilderer: Rebellen in den Bergen |last=Girtler |first=R. |date=1998 |publisher=Böhlau Verlag |location=Wien |isbn=9783205988236 |language=de}}</ref> While [[ancient Germanic law]] allowed any free man, including peasants, to hunt, especially on [[common land]], [[Roman law]] restricted hunting to the rulers. In [[medieval Europe]] rulers of feudal territories from the king downward tried to enforce exclusive rights of the nobility to hunt and fish on the lands that they ruled. Poaching was deemed a serious crime punishable by imprisonment, but enforcement was comparably weak until the 16th century. Peasants were still allowed to continue small game hunting, but the right of the nobility to hunt was restricted in the 16th century and transferred to land ownership. The low quality of guns made it necessary to approach the game as close as {{convert|30|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}}. Poachers in the [[Salzburg]] region were typically unmarried men around 30 years of age and usually alone on their illegal trade.<ref name=BSZ2014>{{Cite news |url=http://www.bayerische-staatszeitung.de/staatszeitung/unser-bayern/detailansicht-unser-bayern/artikel/rebellen-der-berge.html |title=Rebellen der Berge |trans-title=Rebels of the mountains |date=2014 |newspaper=Bayerische Staatszeitung |access-date=2016-09-10}}</ref>

The development of modern hunting rights is closely connected to the comparatively modern idea of exclusive private ownership of land. In the 17th and the 18th centuries, the restrictions on hunting and shooting rights on private property were enforced by gamekeepers and foresters. They denied shared usage of forests, such as [[resin worker|resin collection]] and [[wood pasture]] and the peasants right to hunt and fish. However, by end of the 18th century, comparably-easy access to rifles increasingly allowed peasants and servants to poach.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5IT16_DDq4gC |title=Allmende und Allmendaufhebung: vergleichende Studien zum Spätmittelalter bis Zu den Agrarreformen des 18./19. Jahrhunderts |last=Zückert |first=H. |date=2003 |publisher=Lucius & Lucius |isbn=9783828202269 |language=de}}</ref> Hunting was used in the 18th century as a theatrical{{clarify|date=December 2021}} demonstration of the aristocratic rule of the land and also had a strong impact on land use patterns.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sehepunkte.de/2004/02/3754.html |title=Sehepunkte – Rezension von: Ebersberg oder das Ende der Wildnis – Ausgabe 4 (2004), Nr. 2, review of Rainer Beck: Ebersberg oder das Ende der Wildnis (Ebersberg and the end of wilderness), 2003 |website=www.sehepunkte.de |access-date=2016-09-10}}</ref> Poaching not only interfered with property rights but also clashed symbolically with the power of the nobility. Between 1830 and 1848, poaching and poaching-related deaths increased in [[Bavaria]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |url=https://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/index.php5?title=Wilderei&pdf=true#d.29_Zunahme_der_Wilderei_ab_1830 |title=Wilderei – Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, poaching entry in the Bavarian historical encyclopedia |last=Freitag |first=W. |date=2013 |website=www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de |access-date=2016-09-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914153235/https://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/index.php5?title=Wilderei&pdf=true#d.29_Zunahme_der_Wilderei_ab_1830 |archive-date=14 September 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[German revolutions of 1848–49]] were interpreted as a general permission for poaching in Bavaria. The reform of the hunting law in 1849 restricted legal hunting to rich landowners and middle classes who could pay hunting fees, which led to disappointment among the general public, who continued to view poachers favourably.{{dubious|date=December 2021}}<ref name=":1" /> Some of the frontier regions, where smuggling was important, showed especially strong resistance to that development. In 1849, the Bavarian military forces were asked to occupy a number of municipalities on the frontier with Austria. Both in Wallgau (now part of [[Garmisch-Partenkirchen]]) and in Lackenhäuser, in the Bavarian forest, each household had to feed and accommodate one soldier for a month as part of a military mission to quell the disturbance. The people of Lackenhäuser had several skirmishes with Austrian foresters and military that started due to poached deer. The well-armed people set against the representatives of the state were known as ''bold poachers'' (''kecke Wilderer'').<ref name=Krauss1997/>
Some poachers and their violent deaths, like [[Matthias Klostermayr]] (1736–1771), [[Georg Jennerwein]] (1848–1877) and [[Pius Walder]]&nbsp;(1952–1982) gained notoriety and have had a strong cultural impact, which has persisted until today.<ref name=BSZ2014 /> Poaching was used as a dare. It had a certain erotic connotation, as in [[Franz Schubert]]'s Hunter's love song, (1828, [[Schubert Thematic Catalogue]]&nbsp;909). The lyrics of [[Franz von Schober]] connected unlimited hunting with the pursuit of love. Further poaching related legends and stories ranged from the 1821 opera [[Freischütz]] to [[Wolfgang Franz von Kobell]]'s 1871 story about the Brandner Kasper, a [[Tegernsee]] locksmith and poacher who struck a special deal with the [[Personifications of death|Grim Reaper]].<sup>[[Wolfgang Franz von Kobell#cite note-5|[5]]]</sup>

While poachers had strong local support until the early 20th century, Walder's case showed a significant change in attitudes. Urban citizens still had some sympathy for the [[hillbilly]] rebel, but the local community were much supportive.<ref name=Girtler1998/>

=== United Kingdom ===
[[File:Tremedda Warning.jpg|thumb|Brass plaque on door at [[Tremedda]] farm dating to 1868, warning that poachers shall be shot on first sight]]
Poaching, like [[wildlife trade#Illegal wildlife trade|smuggling]], has a long history in the United Kingdom. The [[verb]] ''poach'' is [[etymology|derived]] from the [[Middle English]] word ''pocchen'' literally meaning ''[[bag]]ged'', ''enclosed in a bag'', which is [[cognate]] with "pouch".<ref name="Oxford05">{{cite book |chapter-url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/poach--2 |title=The new Oxford American dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |location=New York |chapter=Poaching |author=McKean, E. (ed.) |access-date=18 August 2013 |archive-date=28 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928003722/http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/poach--2 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Merriam2003">{{cite book |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poaching?show=0&t=1376128897 |title=The Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary |publisher=Merriam-Webster, Inc. |year=2003 |location=Springfield |author=Merriam-Webster, Inc. |contribution=Poaching |access-date=18 August 2013}}</ref>
Poaching was dispassionately reported for England in "Pleas of the Forest", transgressions of the rigid Anglo-Norman [[royal forest#Forest law|forest law]].<ref>{{cite journal |year=1884 |title=Staffordshire Forest Pleas: Introduction |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=52372 |journal=Staffordshire Historical Collections |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=123–135 |last1=Wrottesley |first1=G. |author-link=George Wrottesley}}</ref> [[William the Conqueror]], who was a great lover of hunting, established and enforced a system of forest law. This system operated outside the [[common law]] and served to protect game animals and their forest habitat from hunting by the common people of England, while reserving hunting rights for the new French-speaking Anglo-Norman aristocracy. Henceforth, hunting of game in royal forests by commoners was punishable by hanging. In 1087, the poem "[[The Rime of King William]]", contained in the [[Peterborough Chronicle]], expressed English indignation at the severe new laws. Poaching was romanticised in literature from the time of the [[ballad]]s of [[Robin Hood]], as an aspect of the "greenwood" of [[Merry England]]. In one tale, Robin Hood is depicted as offering King [[Richard the Lion Heart]] venison from deer that was illegally hunted in the Sherwood Forest, the King overlooking the fact that this hunting was a capital offence. The widespread acceptance of the common criminal activity is encapsulated in the observation ''Non est inquirendum, unde venit venison'' ("It is not to be inquired, whence comes the venison") that was made by [[Guillaume Budé]] in his ''Traitte de la vénerie''.<ref>Budé, G. (1861). [https://archive.org/stream/traittedelavner00chevgoog#page/n10/mode/2up ''Traitte de la vénerie'']. Auguste Aubry, Paris. Reported by Sir Walter Scott, ''[[The Fortunes of Nigel]]'', Ch. 31: "The knave deer-stealers have an apt phrase, Non est inquirendum unde venit venison"; [[Henry Thoreau]], and [[Simon Schama]], ''Landscape and Memory'', 1995:137, reporting [[William Gilpin (priest)|William Gilpin]], ''Remarks on Forest Scenery''.</ref> However, the English nobility and land owners were in the long term extremely successful in enforcing the modern concept of property, such as expressed in the [[enclosures]] of common land and later in the [[Highland Clearances]], both of which were [[forced displacement]] of people from traditional land tenancies and erstwhile-common land. The 19th century saw the rise of acts of legislation, such as the [[Night Poaching Act 1828]] and the [[Game Act 1831]] ([[1 & 2 Will. 4]]. c. 32) in the United Kingdom, and various laws elsewhere.

=== United States ===
[[File:Lady Baltimore, in her habitat.jpg|thumb|[[Lady Baltimore (bald eagle)|Lady Baltimore]], a [[bald eagle]] in [[Alaska]] survived a poaching attempt in the [[Juneau Raptor Center]] [[Mews (falconry)|mews]] on 15 August 2015]]
[[File:FMIB 34651 Ducks Illegally Netted in Lake Ontario.jpeg|thumb|Poached [[duck]]s in [[Lake Ontario]], 1915.]]
In North America, the blatant defiance of the laws by poachers escalated to armed conflicts with law authorities, including the [[Oyster Wars]] of the [[Chesapeake Bay]] and the joint US-British [[Bering Sea Anti-Poaching Operations]] of 1891 over the hunting of seals. In the [[Chesapeake Bay]] in the [[1930s]] one of the biggest threats to [[Anseriformes|waterfowl]] was local poachers using [[Flat-bottomed boat|flat boats]] with [[swivel gun|swivel]] [[cannon]]s that killed entire [[Flock (birds)|flocks]] with one [[gunshot|shot]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dacy |first=George H. |date=1933 |title=Poaching Made Big Business by Ruthless Gangs of Killers |journal=Popular Science |volume=123 |issue=4 |pages=30–31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Goodall |first=Jamie L. H. |title=Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay: from the colonial era to the Oyster Wars |date=2020 |publisher=History Press |isbn=978-1-4671-4116-1 |location=Charleston, SC |oclc=on1121083054}}{{Page needed|date=September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Walsh |first=Harry M. |title=The outlaw gunner: a journey from hunting for survival to a call for waterfowl conservation |publisher=Schiffer Publishing |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-7643-6061-9 |edition=Second |location=Atglen, PA}}{{Page needed|date=September 2024}}</ref>

Violations of [[hunting laws]] and regulations concerning [[wildlife management]], local or international [[wildlife conservation]] schemes constitute wildlife [[crime]]s that are typically punishable.<ref name=Musgrave1993>{{cite journal |author1=Musgrave, R. S. |author2=Parker, S. |author3=Wolok, M. |year=1993 |title=Status of Poaching in the United States – Are We Protecting Our Wildlife? |journal=Natural Resources Journal |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=977–1014}}</ref><ref name=Oldfield2002>{{cite book |editor=Oldfield, S. |year=2002 |title=The Trade in Wildlife: Regulation for Conservation |publisher=Earthscan Publications Ltd. |place=London}}</ref> The following violations and offenses are considered acts of poaching in the US:
* Hunting, killing or collecting wildlife that is listed as [[endangered species|endangered]] by the [[IUCN]] and protected by law such as the [[Endangered Species Act]], the [[Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918]] and international treaties such as [[CITES]].<ref name=Musgrave1993/>
* [[Fishing]] and [[hunting]] without a [[hunting license|license]].<ref name=Oldfield2002/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eliason |first1=S |year=2003 |title=Illegal hunting and angling: The neutralization of wildlife law violations |journal=Society & Animals |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=225–244 |doi=10.1163/156853003322773032 |s2cid=143410598}}</ref>
* Capturing wildlife outside legal hours and outside the [[hunting season]];<ref name=Musgrave1993 /><ref name=Oldfield2002/> usually the [[breeding season]] is declared as the [[closed season]] during which wildlife is protected by law;
* [[Canned hunt]]ing;
* Prohibited use of [[machine gun]]s, [[poison]], [[explosive]]s, [[snare trap]]s, [[Net (device)|nets]] and [[pitfall trap]]s.<ref name=Musgrave1993/>
* Other offenses of incorrect weaponry, such as the use of cartridge rifles in muzzleloader or archery season or in shotgun-only areas, or the killing of big game animals with insufficient firepower such as [[.22 Long Rifle]] rounds.
* Prohibited use of [[bait (luring substance)|baiting]] with food, decoys or recorded calls in order to increase chances for shooting wildlife.<ref name=Musgrave1993 />
* Hunting from a moving [[vehicle]] or [[aircraft]].<ref name=Musgrave1993/>
* Scouting game animals from an aircraft.
* [[Spotlighting]], or shining animals with a [[searchlight|spotlight]] at night to impair their natural defences and thus facilitate an easy kill, is considered [[animal abuse]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Green |first1=G. S. |year=2002 |title=The other criminalities of animal freeze-killers: Support for a generality of deviance |journal=Society & Animals |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=5–30 |doi=10.1163/156853002760030851}}</ref> This hunting method is illegal in [[California]], [[Virginia]], [[Connecticut]], [[Florida]], [[Michigan]], [[New Hampshire]], [[Maine]], [[Texas]], and [[Tennessee]].<ref name=Musgrave1993/>
* Night Hunting;
* [[Trespassing]];
* Taking wildlife on land that is restricted, owned by, or licensed to somebody else.
* The animal or plant has been tagged by a researcher.
* Taking females and juveniles.  
* Hunting or fishing over [[Bag limits|limit]].  

=== Africa ===
Stephen Corry, the director of the human rights group [[Survival International]], has argued that the term "poaching" has at times been used to criminalize the traditional subsistence techniques of [[indigenous peoples]] and to bar them from hunting on their ancestral lands when they are declared as wildlife-only zones.<ref name="Diplomat">Harvey, Gemima (1 October 2015). [https://thediplomat.com/2015/10/indigenous-communities-and-biodiversity/ "Indigenous Communities and Biodiversity".] ''The Diplomat''.</ref> Corry argues that parks such as the [[Central Kalahari Game Reserve]] are managed for the benefit of foreign tourists and safari groups at the expense of the livelihoods of tribal peoples such as the Kalahari [[bushmen]].<ref>Smith, Oliver (1 October 2010). [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/8036214/Tourists-urged-to-boycott-Botswana.html "Tourists urged to boycott Botswana".] ''The Telegraph'' (London).</ref>