Trail-hunting is set to be banned, the government has announced – to the delight of campaigners who say it is being used as a “smokescreen” to facilitate illegal hunting with dogs.
The League Against Cruel Sports released figures, coinciding with the announcement, suggesting the 2005 ban on fox-hunting is still routinely flouted across England and Wales.
The campaign organisation says it recorded 488 reports of foxes being chased and 1,220 reports of anti-social behaviour and havoc inflicted on rural communities by fox hunts this season, which began last August.
The havoc included reports of trespass in private gardens, attacks on family pets, other wildlife such as deer being chased, hounds running amok on busy roads and causing road traffic accidents or on railway lines.
The figures were collected from reports to the league’s Animal Crimewatch service, investigators and other monitor and saboteur groups.
The 2005 ban failed to put a stop to fox-hunting because hunts said they switched to following pre-laid scent trails instead of chasing wild animals – but video evidence has repeatedly shown hunters still chasing foxes, often watching while packs of hounds shredded the animals’ bodies.
Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman, who leads on hunting for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, has previously said trail-hunting is providing a smokescreen and “gives people the opportunity to carry on hunting – as they always said they would when the ban came in 20 years ago”.
The league says its figures show pre-laid trails were recorded being laid at only 4 per cent of hunt meets this season.
Labour before the election had promised to ban “trail” hunting, and animal lovers have been pressuring the government over the long-awaited consultation.
Animal-welfare campaigners celebrated the news but said any new law must not contain loopholes. The government says it wants alternative practices such as drag-hunting and clean‑boot hunting, which do not involve hunting animals and use non‑animal scents, to thrive.
“We recognise that hunts can support jobs and local businesses, and bring people together across the countryside. We are committed to ensuring that responsible rural pursuits, where there is no risk to our precious wildlife, can continue,” the Department for Food and Rural Affairs said.
Campaigners are calling for jail terms for offenders.
Emma Slawinski, chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, said that 21 years after the hunting ban came into force, “we are now finally on the brink of consigning this old-fashioned blood sport to history”.
She said: “So-called trail hunting must be banned, the exemptions in the Hunting Act removed, the end of so-called accidental hunting, and jail sentences introduced to act as a deterrent for those who would break new stronger fox hunting laws.”
A Hunt Saboteurs Association spokesperson said: “We all need to play our part in making sure the updated Hunting Act has no other loopholes which can be exploited; for fox, hare, otter or deer hunting, in the same way as the bird of prey or research exemptions [allowing deer hunting] were exploited.
“This consultation must result in a full, unambiguous ban on hunting; we don’t want another 20 years of animal cruelty and excuses.”
Animal welfare minister Baroness Sue Hayman said: “The nature of trail hunting makes it difficult to ensure wild and domestic animals are not put at risk of being killed or injured – that is clearly unacceptable.”
But Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, which supports hunting, said: “At a time when the countryside is on its knees as a result of misguided government policies and a cost-of-living crisis heightened by war, the government has again chosen to attack rural communities with another assault on rural life.
“A ban on trail-hunting is unnecessary, unjustified and unfair.”
The consultation will run until 18 June and invites people not only to give their opinions on trail, drag and clean boot hunting, but also on “whether any other legislative changes are needed to ensure a ban is effective”.
