Trail-hunting set to be banned in landmark crackdown
The government announced that trail hunting would be banned; This has delighted campaigners, who say it is being used as a “smokescreen” to facilitate illegal hunting with dogs.
The League Against Cruel Sports released figures to coincide with the announcement, suggesting that the 2005 ban on fox hunting was still routinely broken in England and Wales.
The campaign organization said it had recorded 488 reports of foxes being chased during this season, which started last August, and 1,220 reports of anti-social behavior and fox hunts damaging rural communities.
Destruction included reports of trespassing on private gardens, attacks on family pets, other wildlife such as deer being chased, greyhounds running amok on busy roads and causing road traffic accidents or railway lines.
The figures were collected from reports sent to the league’s Animal Crimewatch service, investigators and other watchdog and saboteur groups.
The 2005 ban failed to stop fox hunting because hunters began following predetermined scent trails rather than chasing wild animals; but video evidence shows hunters still chasing foxes and often watching packs of hounds tear apart the animals’ bodies.
Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman, who oversees hunting on behalf of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, has previously said trail hunting provides a smokescreen and “gives people the opportunity to continue hunting – as they said they would always do when the ban came 20 years ago”.
The league says figures show pre-prepared trails were laid on just 4 percent of hunts this season.
Before the election Labor had promised to ban “track” hunting and animal lovers were pressing the government for a long-awaited consultation.
Animal welfare campaigners celebrated the news but said the new law should not contain loopholes. The government says it wants the development of alternative practices that do not require hunting animals and use non-animal scents, such as drag hunting and clean boot hunting.
The Department for Food and Rural Affairs said: “We recognize that hunts can support jobs and local businesses and bring rural people together. We are committed to ensuring responsible rural pursuits can continue with no risk to our precious wildlife.”
Campaigners are demanding prison sentences 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 on the verge of finally consigning this old-fashioned blood sport to history”.
He said: “So-called track hunting should be banned, exemptions from the Hunting Act should be removed, so-called bycatch hunting should end and prison sentences should be introduced as a deterrent for those who break new, stronger fox hunting laws.”
A spokesperson for the Hunting Saboteurs Association said: “We must all do our part to make sure the updated Hunting Act does not contain other loopholes that could be exploited, such as bird of prey or research exemptions for fox, hare, otter or deer hunting. [allowing deer hunting] exploited.
“This consultation must result in a complete and clear ban on hunting; we do not 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 that wild and domestic animals are not put at risk of being killed or injured; this is completely unacceptable.”
But Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Rural Alliance, which supports hunting, said: “At a time when the countryside is on its knees as a result of misguided government policies and a war-fueled cost of living crisis, the government has once again chosen to attack rural communities with another assault on rural life.
“Prohibiting tracing is unnecessary, unjust and unjust.”
The consultation runs until June 18 and invites people to give their views not only on stalking, dragging and clean boot fishing, but also on “whether any further legislative changes are required to ensure the ban is effective”.
