Wildlife protection officers will now have the support of a Wildlife Crime Intelligence Unit, in a joint initiative between the department for the environment and the home office.

Every police force has appointed a wildlife protection officer with some allocated a staff, however the unit will focus on national and international wildlife crime.

To do this the unit, launched on Monday to operate under the National Criminal Intelligence Unit, will have access to police records and will gather further intelligence to identify key individuals committing wildlife crime. They will also focus on the trade of products from protected species, including caviar, birds of prey and ivory.

The department for the environment has contributed £440,000 to the new unit, with a further £100,000 coming from police chief constables.

"I am convinced that the need for this unit is greater now than ever before. Crimes against wildlife continue, pushing some of our most endangered species ever closer to extinction. And as the net closes in on these criminals, they find ever more sophisticated ways of evading detection," said environment minister Michael Meacher.

"We need equally sophisticated techniques to make sure that we track down, prosecute and punish these 'big time' criminals.

"We are committed to combating this ugly crime and the National Wildlife Crime Intelligence Unit will give us an excellent opportunity to complement the work of the police and HM Customs and Excise by tackling wildlife crime at the highest levels."