Bloody foxes pile up in Birmingham as charity calls for an end to illegal hunting

Press release, for immediate release

Tuesday, February 24, 2026

A huge pile of bloodied foxes appeared in central Birmingham today [Tuesday] to highlight the scale of illegal hunting in England and Wales that has continued since the government took power.

National animal welfare charity the League Against Cruel Sports was behind the stunt, which saw a “hunter” dump 648 fake foxes in Victoria Square – one for each report the charity has received of a fox being chased by hunts since the general election.

Last week the League handed in an open letter signed by more than 36,000 people in just one month to Sir Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street.

Emma Slawinski, League Against Cruel Sports chief executive, said: “The government isn’t keeping its promises, and the dumped foxes in Birmingham are there to show the scale of illegality that the government is failing to get to grips with.

“The people we spoke to were repulsed by trail hunting, which is just a smokescreen to conceal that foxes and other wild animals still being chased and torn apart by hunt hounds, so we are urging the government to act immediately to end this savage blood sport once and for all.”

The government pledged to ban so-called trail hunting in its manifesto, and further promised to launch a public consultation “in the new year” when it launched its animal welfare strategy before Christmas.

This has not happened.

Last year, on the twentieth anniversary of the flawed Hunting Act coming into force, the League handed in a petition calling for tighter laws on hunting signed by more than 104,000 people.

Emma said: “The time for change is now and the government must urgently launch its consultation, which should also include removing exemptions in the Hunting Act that hunts exploit to get around the current weak law, introducing custodial sentences, and outlawing reckless, or ‘accidental’ hunting.”

Polling commissioned by the League Against Cruel Sports and carried out independently by FindOutNow with further analysis by Electoral Calculus in March/April 2024 found that 72 per cent of the West Midlands public supported stronger fox hunting laws, with only six per cent disagreeing.

A clear majority of voters in rural as well as urban areas across the country backed new laws to stop foxes being chased by hounds and killed, with 70 per cent of people in the countryside supporting the proposal.

· More about how to take part in the consultation, and how people can make their voice heard, is available here: https://www.league.org.uk/hunting_consultation

Ends

Notes to editors

For information or interview requests, please contact the League Against Cruel Sports Press Office on 01483 524250 or email pressoffice@league.org.uk

Trail hunting has been described by chief superintendent Matt Longman, the national police lead on fox hunting crime, as a “smokescreen for illegal fox hunting”. He also described illegal hunting as “prolific”.

Fox hunting was banned in England and Wales when the Hunting Act came into force on February 18, 2005.

The full set of data for the August 2024 to December 2025 fox hunting seasons is available on request. The figures are compiled from reports to the charity’s confidential Animal Crimewatch service and other reports from monitor and sab groups analysed by the League’s intelligence team, which is staffed by former police officers and civilian analysts. The figures are believed to be just the tip of the iceberg showing only those hunts being monitored.

Find Out Now interviewed 5,379 GB adults online from 26 March - 2 April 2024. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults by gender, age, social grade, other demographics and past voting patterns.

Find Out Now and Electoral Calculus are both members of the British Polling Council and abide by its rules.

A full breakdown of the data is available here: https://electoralcalculus.co.uk/blogs/DataTables_LACS_Jun2024.xlsx

The League Against Cruel Sports is Britain's leading charity that works to stop animals being persecuted, abused and killed for sport. The League was instrumental in helping bring about the landmark Hunting Act 2004, the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021, the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act 2023 and bans on the use of snares brought about by the Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023, and Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024.

We carry out investigations to expose law-breaking and cruelty to animals and campaign for stronger animal protection laws and penalties. We work to change attitudes and behaviour through education and manage wildlife reserves. Find out more about our work at www.league.org.uk. Registered charity in England and Wales (no.1095234) and Scotland (no.SC045533).