On April 1st Perran Moon, the Labour MP for Cornwall’s Camborne and Redruth constituency, called on the government to ban so-called trail hunting and made a plea for jail time for hunters who are caught breaking the law. Currently, trail hunting – which supposedly involves hunts laying scent trails for hounds to follow, a scenario rarely witnessed by sabs and monitors – can only be dealt with by way of a fine at worst. Several other Labour MPs also expressed similar sentiments.
In response, Environment Minister Daniel Zeichner promised that the government would consult on the proposed ban on trail hunting later this year.
Moon, who had tabled the Parliamentary ‘adjournment debate’, said:
“Put simply, animal cruelty should have no place in modern, progressive 21st-century Britain. Having spent most of my life living in rural areas, I have witnessed at first hand the brutal reality of hunting with dogs.
Contrary to the views of some, that opinion is shared by many rural residents. It is imperative that as lawmakers we address the concerns surrounding trail hunting, particularly in light of the Hunting Act 2004 and the Government’s manifesto commitments.”
Moon explained that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) often found it difficult to obtain convictions within the current legal framework, even in cases where there is clear evidence:
“enforcement in the field has proven difficult. Although hunts are operating illegally, knowingly or intentionally hunting live quarry, it can often be challenging to prove that in court.
The impact on animal welfare is significant, with wild animals, particularly foxes, being forced to run long distances while being relentlessly pursued, after which they are torn limb from limb while still alive by a pack of uncontrollable hounds.
He concluded:
“We need to strengthen the Hunting Act 2004 to make sure it delivers the protection that animals need. That means banning trail hunting, removing exemptions that enable illegal hunting and introducing custodial sentences for those who break the law.”
“Fox hunting is not a sport”
During the opening of the debate Moon put forward his opinion that fox hunting cannot be considered a sport.
He said:
“Fox hunting is not a sport. It is an activity that involves tracking, chasing and killing a fox, typically using a pack of hounds and riders on horseback.”
Protect the Wild agrees completely. Setting as many as thirty hounds on an animal not much heavier than a large house cat is not a ‘sport, it is animal abuse.
Irene Campbell, Labour MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, brought up the issue of “out of control hounds” causing harm to ” people, pets and themselves in residential areas”. She asked Moon if he supported an urgent ban on trail hunting, to which he concurred.
Sean Woodcock, Labour MP for Banbury noted that both the Heythrop and Warwickshire hunts had recently been caught “red-handed” killing foxes.
Anti-hunting contributions were also heard from Rachael Maskell, Andrew George, Neil Duncan-Jordan and Dan Norris, all Labour or Labour/Co-op Party MPs. Dan Norris is also the chair of the League Against Cruel Sports.
“The moral case for ending trail hunting is clear”
Moon argued that there was broad support for banning trail hunting and that the issue was supported by MPs across several of the UK’s political parties.
“80% of the British public support the ban on hunting with dogs, and many of those people would like to see trail hunting banned as well. The moral case for ending trail hunting is clear: it is inconsistent with the values of a modern, compassionate society that respects animal welfare.”
“A hunting man”
Pushback to the anti-hunting sentiments came from Jim Shannon, Democratic Unionist Party MP for Strangford, Northern Ireland. Shannon, a pro-hunt and pro-shoot lobbyist who regularly speaks on behalf of bloodsports (see for example Woodcock petition debate: through the looking glass with the shooting lobby). Shannon said that “as a hunting man”, he thought “the hunting community deserve to have their voices heard and considered”. He hastened to add that he did not hunt with horses and hounds.
Hunting has always made its voice heard, and while Shannon’s contribution will be easy to ignore, more serious opposition to a ban on trail hunting is likely to be led in the House of Lords by Lord Benjamin Mancroft. In 2017 Mancroft famously declared in the Lords that only hunters ‘care about foxes’ and as Protect the Wild has previously revealed he was head of the Master of Foxhounds Association (MFHA) when the Hunt Saboteurs Association leaked the notorious Hunting Office webinars in November 2020, which saw the Hunting Office advising hunts on how to get away with killing foxes under the ‘smokescreen’ of trail hunting. Mancroft, a former Chair of the pro-hunting lobby group the Countryside Alliance, narrowly avoided culpability despite prominently featuring in the webinars.
Minister promises consultation on trail hunting this year
Daniel Zeichner responded, reaffirming the government’s commitment to Labour’s 2024 election pledge to close the loopholes in the Hunting Act 2004:
“I want to assure members that we are working to move this forward, and we will deliver a thorough consultation later this year to ensure that legislation brought forward is effective in practice and we understand its impact”
Zeichner said that he wasn’t able to give a timetable for the consultation yet, other than it will take place later this year. He indicated that the government will provide support to those involved in professions linked to hunting, such as vets, feed merchants and farriers.
Zeichner also pledged to move forward on a number of other animal rights issues. According to Zeichner:
“The Government were elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans in a generation to improve animal welfare, and that is exactly what we will do. Banning trail hunting is only one part of that. We will also end puppy smuggling and puppy farming, ban the use of snare traps and ban the importation of hunting trophies.
Finally, he also outlined the government’s stated opposition to hare-coursing, which he described as “abhorrent” and a “serious crime”.
It is of course Daniel Zeichner who, as Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, is also overseeing the disastrous badger cull. As Protect the Wild wrote just a week ago, “The government must act faster, listen to independent experts like Tom Langton, and instead of using ill-defined phrases like “end the badger cull by the end of this parliament” needs to ditch the review and pledge to end the cull immediately.”
Much the same could be said for ending trail hunting, and while Protect the Wild welcomes the debate in parliament on moving towards a ban it needs to happen quickly. Hunts are breaking the law on a regular basis and the public is growing more and more frustrated at these ‘organised crime gangs’ harming wildlife and riding roughshod over the views the majority of us hold.
- In fact, as a Survation poll carried out for Protect the Wild in August 2024 discovered, just 18% of the public believe trail hunting is NOT a smokescreen.
We join the call for a timetable for the consultation to be announced soon. As this timeline progresses, we expect that there will be considerable pushback from the hunts and their supporters, both inside and outside parliament. Together we must keep the pressure on the government to make good on its promise to end the sham of trail hunting once and for all.
- Read the full text of the parliamentary debate
- Read our proposal for a real, workable ban on trail hunting.
- Read our page on ‘Foxes and the law’.
Fox image via Robert Sachowski/Unsplash
