HOUSING developers in York will be among those working with the police as officers step up their efforts to protect the city's animal population.

Two new wildlife liaison officers for the central area of the county have been appointed by North Yorkshire Police to help protect endangered species in and around York.

PC Lee Fickling and PC Rebecca Waddington, based in York, will liaise with companies and animal protection organisations to stamp out poaching, bird trapping, poisoning and even the illegal importation of animals and animal parts from overseas.

One of their duties will be to ensure that animals which have made their homes on land and in buildings under development are protected.

They will work to combat illegal bird-trapping, with the RSPCA having investigated many cases over the past few months where finches and other garden birds have been trapped illegally and put into aviaries to be raised alongside tame canaries.

PC Fickling, 29, police ward manager for Woodthorpe, and Dringhouses, who will fit these voluntary duties around his normal commitments, said York and the surrounding areas were a haven for wildlife in need of protection.

He said he was keen to work with various agencies to ensure that animals were not deliberately or inadvertently put in danger.

He said: "York is quite rural once you get outside the city walls and there are issues of poaching and poisoning foxes and trapping birds of prey.

"Bats are a protected species and they roost anywhere, so they can be under threat from loft conversions or developments.

"If builders are not aware of that fact, there can be problems.

"We will be working very closely with conservation groups, bat groups, the RSPCA and the RSPB to help catch the criminals and to educate people about wildlife issues."

RSPCA Chief Inspector Paul Stilgoe said: "There are many issues in York where animals and birds are put in danger and we want to work with the officers on a number of issues to try and improve things further for our city's wildlife."

PC Fickling and PC Waddington can be contacted by phone on 01904 631321.

Updated: 14:06 Thursday, October 23, 2003