LANCASHIRE Constabulary has been "named and shamed" by the chief constable of North Wales for its record on tackling animal cruelty.

But police bosses in the county today defended their stance of not employing a full-time wildlife officer.

Richard Brunstrom "named and shamed" Lancashire for choosing to axe the post when he submitted written evidence to a House of Commons select committee.

Mr Brunstrom said 17 UK forces had full-time wildlife crime officers and the post was an essential part of policing.

He told the MPs, who are carrying out an investigation into the scale of environmental crime, that the post was needed because of rising wildlife crime, including animal trafficking and the illegal killing of endangered species.

But Detective Superintendent Gary Stephenson, head of Lancashire police's force intelligence department, hit back and said that their experiences showed a wildlife officer was not the most effective way of tackling the problem.

Lancashire's last wildlife officer was PC Maria Graham. But the post has not been filled for a number of years.

Mr Stephenson added: "The best people to deal with this are police officers who are based in their communities, particularly in rural areas. The constabulary takes an intelligence-led approach to this type of crime.

"Responsibility for enforcement and targeting in the main lies with local policing commanders who are engaged in a number of different activities.

"The specialist intelligence unit at headquarters identify problems, collects and analyses intelligence and then disseminates it for appropriate action to community officers."

But he added: "In my own period in office a number of forces including the Metropolitan Police and South Wales Police have created full time posts, but these gains have been offset by the loss in Thames Valley and Lancashire Police areas.

"Chief constables undoubtedly have sufficient resources to deal with these crimes, should we decide that such matters should be resourced.

"Wildlife crime sometimes involves threats to the extinction of species locally, nationally or internationally. Such matters should surely be seen as serious crime."