Boxing Day figures suggest fox hunting is still rife 20 years after law change

New figures released in advance of the hunts’ Boxing Day parades 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 havoc being inflicted on rural communities.

The figures reveal:

• 186 foxes reported being pursued by hunts
• 220 reports relating to suspected illegal hunting incidents
• 553 cases of hunt havoc

The figures were collated since the beginning of August, encompassing both the cub hunting season and 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 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 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, such as using terriers to flush out foxes that have fled underground.

Hunt havoc includes incidents where hounds ran amok on roads; causing road traffic accidents; 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.

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

The Labour Party manifesto contained a commitment to ban trail hunting, and 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 (76 per cent) of the British public supported strengthening the Hunting Act.

Chris added: “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.”

· Contact the League’s Animal Crimewatch service on 0300 444 1234, crimewatch@league.org.uk or WhatsApp at 0755 278 8247 to report incidents of animal cruelty.

Ends

Notes to editors

A further breakdown of the fox hunting figures is available on request.

Data has been collected throughout the cub hunting season and the first six week 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.

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 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”.

Find Out Now interviewed 5,379 GB adults online from 26 March-2 April 2024. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults by gender, age, social grade, other demographics and past voting patterns.

Find Out Now and Electoral Calculus are both members of the British Polling Council and abide by its rules.

A full breakdown of the data is available here: https://electoralcalculus.co.uk/blogs/DataTables_LACS_Jun2024.xlsx

You can find details of the League Against Cruel Sports press office here:
https://www.league.org.uk/pres...