Charity calls for an end to illegal fox hunting by piling up bloodied foxes in Cardiff city centre

Nation.Cymru staff

A huge pile of bloodied foxes appeared in Cardiff city centre to highlight to the Welsh public the importance of taking part in a UK government consultation to ban trail hunting and strengthen hunting laws.

National animal welfare charity the League Against Cruel Sports was behind the stunt to highlight the scale of illegal fox hunting still taking place in Wales and England.

The event featured a “hunter” dumping 885 fake bloodied foxes on Queen Street – one for each report the charity has received of a fox being chased by hunts since the general election.

The charity has welcomed the launch earlier this year of the government consultation to ban trail hunting and is calling for a range of measures to end fox hunting for good.

Emma Slawinski, League Against Cruel Sports chief executive, said: “The dumped foxes in Cardiff are there to show the scale of illegality that the government is looking to get to grips with.

“The Cardiff public is repulsed by trail hunting, which is just a smokescreen to conceal that foxes and other wild animals are still being chased and torn apart by hunt hounds. Those we spoke to in the city today have signed up to take part in the government’s consultation on illegal hunting, and we urge other local residents to do the same.”

The consultation is now open until Thursday, June 18, and the League has issued guidance for anyone who wants to take part and help end illegal hunting for good.

Emma said: “We’re pleased the UK government understands the time for change is now.

“Trail hunting needs to be banned but the exemptions in the Hunting Act that hunts exploit need to be removed, jail sentences should be introduced to act as an effective deterrent, and reckless, or ‘accidental’ hunting should be outlawed.”

Polling commissioned by the League Against Cruel Sports and carried out independently by FindOutNow with further analysis by Electoral Calculus in March/April 2024 found that 78 per cent of the public in Wales supported stronger fox hunting laws, with only four per cent disagreeing.

A clear majority of voters in rural as well as urban areas across the country backed new laws to stop foxes being chased by hounds and killed, with 70 per cent of people in the countryside supporting the proposal.

More about how to take part in the consultation, and how people can make their voice heard, is available here.