Trail hunting ban consultation statement
Posted 2nd April 2025
National animal welfare charity the League Against Cruel Sports has welcomed an announcement by the government that it will launch a consultation on the banning of trail hunting later this year.
It follows a statement in the House of Commons yesterday by the environment minister Daniel Zeichner, who quoted League figures showing the scale of suspected illegal hunting and the havoc being wreaked on rural communities.
The statement was made during a debate organised by Perran Moon MP, who called on the government to not only ban trail hunting but to strengthen the Hunting Act by removing the exemptions and introducing jail sentences for those that break the law – all of which the League has been lobbying successive governments to introduce.
Emma Slawinski, chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, said: “We welcome this significant step towards ending fox hunting by paving the way to removing the excuses being used by hunts to conceal the chasing and killing of animals.
“We look forward to working with the government to help strengthen fox hunting laws in order to end this barbaric activity as soon as possible by closing all the loopholes currently being exploited by hunts.”
Hunts invented trail hunting after the fox hunting ban, an activity in which they purport to follow a scent trail that has been laid by a person. However, this increasingly discredited excuse is being used by hunts to conceal their hunting of foxes from the public, police and courts – trails are very rarely seen being laid except during the occasional lame PR exercises conducted by the hunting world.
Trail hunting has 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”.
Emma added: “These vital animal welfare measures need to be comprehensive and brought in swiftly to end the killing of animals with dogs for fun.”
