2019 Annual Report

I am delighted to introduce our 2019 Annual Report and Accounts. It was a year that recorded a great many successes as we work towards our aims of ending hunting, shooting, and animal fighting, whilst winning the hearts and minds of a broader audience. We were able to make significant headway on all four, with a hard won and land mark pledge on the Conservative Party Election Manifesto not to repeal the Hunting Act 2004, shooting bans on a number of high profile estates, an expose on dog-fighting that made it onto the BBC News as just some examples of our work last year.

We also brought together some of the most powerful names in the Animal Welfare Sector to call on the government to increase sentences for the worst animal crime, from the current six months to five years. Although this legislative change was scuppered twice through Brexit business, and is now delayed further in 2020 due to COVID-19, we are confident that it will be made law and will show just what can be achieved when animal charities work together for the common good.

2019 as also about reaching out to new and differing audiences, seeking to change minds and influence outcomes. We did this on the ground, during the General Election and through the extensive press and marketing coverage we achieved, our credibility and influence increasing at every turn. Our supporter base continues to grow fast, with record numbers partnering with us - even during the current COVID-19 crisis. It is in this spirit that I commend this document to you, delivered by a cracking team of devoted professionals for a charity recently rated the 12^th best to work for in the UK, but one that is only able to function with the help of our incredible members and supporters. It is your unshakeable determination to consign animal cruelty in the name of ‘sport’ to the history books; that drives us forward. Please enjoy reading our 2019 Annual Report & Accounts and know that its momentum is carried through into 2020.

- Andy Knott MBE, CEO

Download the League's 2019 Annual Report and Accounts

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The Hunting Act 2004 is the law which bans chasing wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales – this basically means that fox hunting, deer hunting, hare hunting, hare coursing and mink hunting are all illegal, as they all are cruel sports based on dogs chasing wild mammals.
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