Fox hunting ‘still rife’ two decades after it was banned

Martin Shipton

New figures released in advance of Boxing Day hunt “parades” in Wales suggest fox hunting is still rife despite it being nearly 20 years since the Hunting Act came into force.

National animal welfare charity the League Against Cruel Sports – which was the driving force behind the original hunting ban – says the figures show why stronger fox hunting laws are needed to prevent the widescale chasing and killing of foxes and the associated havoc inflicted on rural communities.

The figures for Wales reveal:

* 11 foxes reported being pursued by hunts

* 15 reports relating to suspected illegal hunting incidents

* 49 cases of hunt havoc

The Flint and Denbigh Hunt is the hunt with the highest number of reports, including being seen chasing the most foxes (7), being involved in the highest number of suspected illegal incidents (9), and the most hunt havoc cases (21) in Wales.

Cub hunting season

The figures were collated since the beginning of August, encompassing both the cub hunting season and the first six weeks of the fox hunting season, which started in November.

Chris Luffingham, acting chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, said: “These figures show that the Welsh Boxing Day hunt parades are a charade, hiding a world of brutality that has never gone away in the 20 years since the Hunting Act was introduced.

“It’s time for change and for the UK Government to urgently set out a timetable of measures to strengthen hunting laws and stop fox hunting once and for all.

“Not only does so-called trail hunting need to be banned, but the loopholes in the Hunting Act need to be removed, and custodial sentences introduced for those caught breaking the law.”

The reports relating to suspected illegal hunting include foxes being pursued by hounds but also other behaviour by hunts that points to the pursuit of a wild animal rather than a pre-laid trail.

Hunt havoc

Hunt havoc includes incidents where hounds ran amok on roads; trespass; livestock worrying; and attacks on pet cats or dogs; badger setts being damaged to prevent foxes escaping; distress being caused to the public; and other wildlife such as deer being chased.

Mr Luffingham said: “If hunts were really following pre-laid trails and trail hunting as they constantly claim, none of the recorded incidents would have occurred.”

Figures for England and Wales reveal that over the same period :

* 186 foxes were reported as being pursued by hunts;

* There were 220 reports relating to suspected illegal hunting incidents; and

* 553 cases of hunt havoc.

Data was collected throughout the cub hunting season and the first six weeks of the fox hunting season from reports into the League’s Animal Crimewatch service and other monitors.

Cub hunting takes place in autumn and is how hunts train their hounds to kill foxes by targeting fox cubs, in preparation for the main fox hunting season.

Trail hunting

The Labour Party general election manifesto contained a commitment to ban trail hunting, and UK Environment Secretary Steve Reed pledged to eliminate fox hunting within its first term in office.

Polling commissioned earlier this year by the League and carried out by FindOutNow with further analysis by Electoral Calculus showed more than three quarters (78%) of the Welsh public supported strengthening the Hunting Act.

Mr Luffingham said: “These figures are just the tip of the iceberg as they don’t show the cruelty being inflicted on foxes in remote rural areas away from the public gaze.

“But they make it crystal clear that the hunts are attempting to deceive the criminal justice system, and the police, courts and Crown Prosecution Service need new powers to help them enforce the law and end the cruelty being inflicted on wildlife in the countryside.”

Fox hunting was banned in England and Wales when the Hunting Act came into force on February 18 2005, three months after it gained Royal Assent on November 18, 2004.

The UK Government has responsibility for fox hunting laws in both Wales and England, as it is a reserved matter.

The hunting world invented so-called trail hunting a few years later but this has become increasingly discredited. Trail hunting has been described by Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman, the most senior police officer in England with responsibility for fox hunting crime, as a “smokescreen for illegal fox hunting”. He has also described illegal hunting as “prolific”.

Members of the public can contact the League’s Animal Crimewatch service on 0300 444 1234, [email protected] or WhatsApp at 0755 278 8247 to report incidents of animal cruelty.