Standing Against Fox Hunting
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What is fox hunting?
Fox hunting is a traditional ‘sport’ in which hunters, usually on horseback, follow a pack of hunting dogs aiming to pick up the scent of a fox, chase it and kill it. As the UK's leading animal charity working to make cruel sports a thing of the past, our goal is to end fox hunting and the cruelty it brings.
Is fox hunting illegal?
Fox hunting is illegal in England, Scotland and Wales. It is still legal to fox hunt in Northern Ireland.
When was fox hunting banned in the UK?
Fox hunting was banned by the Hunting Act 2004 in England and Wales, and the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 in Scotland. But while these were both welcome and hard-fought pieces of legislation, overwhelming evidence suggests both are either being ignored or exploited by hunts on a regular basis.
What is the punishment for fox hunting?
Criminals found guilty of illegal fox hunting cannot be jailed. The only punishment for the offence of hunting a wild mammal with a dog is a fine. Fines are technically unlimited, but in practice they are usually only a few hundred pounds – the average fine in 2023 for offences under the Hunting Act was just £356. Occasionally, depending on the circumstances of the case, people caught fox hunting can be prosecuted for other offences where prison sentences are available – such as causing unnecessary suffering under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The League is campaigning for the Hunting Act to be brought into line with other wildlife and animal welfare laws by making prison sentences available as a punishment.
Does fox hunting still happen?
Hunting wild mammals with dogs for sport was banned in Scotland in 2002 and England and Wales in 2004. These are fantastic achievements! However, the battle to stamp out hunting in the UK is not yet won as these bans have not been properly enforced, the attempts to eliminate or weaken them continue, and hunting is still legal in Northern Ireland. Fox hunting in England is still happening, as well as across the UK.
There were two attempts by the Government to weaken the Hunting Act, most recently in July 2015. The League was at the forefront of the campaign to ensure that this attempt to bring back hunting by the back door did not succeed.
As a key player in the hard-fought battle to get hunting with dogs banned in the first place, the League Against Cruel Sports is working hard to ensure the Hunting Act 2004 in England and Wales, and the Wild Mammals Protection (Scotland) Act 2002 in Scotland are properly enforced and strengthened to remove any exemptions. We are also working to achieve a ban on hunting with dogs in Northern Ireland, which remains the only jurisdiction in the UK where it is still legal.
When is the fox hunting season in the UK?
The fox hunting season traditionally begins in November and finishes in March, which is the same time of year hunts now use so-called trail hunting as an excuse to carry on killing foxes. Hunts often also begin cub hunting in August before the main season starts. Cub hunting is where young hounds are trained to hunt by targeting fox cubs, often under the guise of ‘Autumn hunting’ or ‘hound exercise’. It is no surprise that hunts still follow these seasons to this day, because despite being banned fox hunting has never stopped. There is some variation in the seasons – for example some hunts may keep hunting foxes until April – and different seasons exist for deer, hare and mink hunting.
Who still supports fox hunting?
If you are opposed to hunting, then you are in the majority. More than eight out of ten people are opposed to hunting. This includes more than eight out of ten people in rural areas, which shows that people who truly understand and experience what fox hunters do and want to see it remain illegal.
However, hunting is not a town vs country issue, and it is not a class issue. More than seven out of 10 Conservative voters want hunting to remain illegal. Hunting is an issue of animal cruelty, nothing else.
Some argue that hunting should continue because it’s a British tradition. However, bear baiting and bull baiting were also traditions, now rightfully consigned to the history books.
After 100 years of campaigning to both bring about and enforce a hunting ban with hounds for sport, we remain ever-vigilant in defence of the ban and will tirelessly campaign to both secure and strengthen it, working to close loopholes such as trail hunting.
Commonly Asked Fox Hunting Questions
Is fox hunting 'pest control'?
Fox hunting is not a credible form of pest control. Hunters claim that they are helping farmers by killing foxes, but this is a senseless argument as farmers retain the right to control pests on their land.
Any suggestion that fox hunting is about pest control can be dismissed very quickly by the fact that hunts have been caught capturing and raising foxes purely so they can then be hunted. In May 2015, a League investigation revealed 16 terrified fox cubs held captive in a barn linked to a fox hunt in Yorkshire. We rescued them, took them to a vet, and sadly one died, but we released the others to safety. We are proud to have protected those foxes.
While the scale of this fox factory was shocking, it’s not an isolated case. In December 2015, League investigators released a fox found locked in a building near to where the Belvoir Hunt was meeting. It is worth mentioning that a few months later, while monitoring the same hunt, our investigators were brutally attacked, leaving one with a broken neck.
What dogs are used for fox hunting?
Traditionally, fox hunters use the English or American foxhound for hunting purposes. These dogs are specially bred to run in packs and hunt foxes.
Why is fox hunting bad?
Scientific evidence shows that the animals targeted in fox hunting suffer physical and mental stress when chased by a hunt, whether or not they are eventually killed.
The Burns Report produced in the year 2000 stated that: “There is a lack of firm scientific evidence about the effect on the welfare of a fox of being closely pursued, caught and killed above ground by hounds. We are satisfied, nevertheless, that this experience seriously compromises the welfare of the fox.” That is one of the reasons hunting with dogs for sport was banned in Britain more than 15 years ago.
Foxes naturally escape predators by going underground, but hunts employ staff to block up these escape routes the morning before a hunt meet, forcing an unnaturally long chase. If someone is found guilty of blocking a badger sett, it is often done for this reason.
If a fox does succeed in escaping underground, hunt followers send terriers down the hole to trap the fox while they dig it out and then shoot it. Again, the Burns Report concluded that the inability to escape dogs underground causes the fox ‘extreme fear’ and is a ‘serious compromise of its welfare’.
Autopsies reveal hunted foxes are not killed quickly, but endure numerous bites and tears to their flanks and hindquarters - causing enormous suffering before death. Foxes forced to face terriers underground can suffer injuries to the face, head and neck, as can the terriers.
Are foxes vermin?
No other native British mammal divides opinion as deeply as the red fox. We believe the evidence does not support the criticism of this iconic British species. While foxes are of course predators – they kill other animals for food – their impact on livestock is exaggerated, and can be reduced with good farming practices.
The threat of the ‘fox in the chicken coop’ can be remedied with a secure electric fence. While sheep farmers may curse foxes for the loss of their lambs, in reality studies have shown that poor farming practices, disease and bad weather are far more likely to lead to lamb deaths. A 2000 study in Scotland found that around just 1% of lamb losses could be directly attributed to foxes.
On the other hand, by feeding on rabbits, a 2003 study estimated that rural foxes save British crop farmers around £7m per year.
What is trail hunting?
Hunts in England and Wales invented the activity of trail hunting after the fox hunting ban came in. This claims to be a non-lethal sport where the hunt simply follows a pre-laid trail rather than searching for and chasing a fox. However, years of evidence shows that hunts are using trail hunting as a cover for illegal fox hunting.
An explosive exposé showed senior figures within the Masters of Fox Hounds Association and the Countryside Alliance caught on camera appearing to admit that ‘trail’ hunting is a “smokescreen” for the chasing and killing of foxes.
Now you know more about hunting than the saboteurs or courts will know but what it will do is create that smokescreen or that element of doubt that we haven’t deliberately hunted a fox, so if nothing else you need to record that, and it will help us provide a defence to huntsman."
- Phil Davies, the Countryside Alliance police liaison officer
The League Against Cruel Sports and other organisations has been campaigning to expose trail hunting for years. This powerful new evidence is a game changer and will play a vital part in ending trail hunting once and for all.
Fox hunting in England and Wales also exploits exemptions to the Hunting Act. These were designed to allow certain types of pest control or scientific research but are used by the hunts to give them an excuse to carry on hunting foxes.
In Scotland, an exemption in the law allows foxes to be killed by flushing to guns, where a pack of hounds is allowed to chase a fox from cover, after which it can be shot. However, the League has historic evidence showing hunts claiming to be flushing to guns – but without having any guns present in the right place.
How can I help stop fox hunting?
Contact your MP and ask them to urge their party to keep and strengthen the fox hunting ban.
Up and down the country landowners and managers are allowing ‘trail’ hunting to take place. Contact them today and demand they stop being complicit in fox hunting, by banning trail hunting and all other hunting related activities.
Find out more
- Read our The Case against Hunting report
- Read our report The conservation problems of hunting with dogs
- Read Prof. Steven Harris The impact of hunting with dogs on wildlife and conservation
- Read Hunting with dogs: past, present but no future