Campaigners in Liverpool call for stronger fox hunting laws

Campaigners including a ‘huntswoman’ carrying a (fake) fox covered in blood were outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool today [Tuesday] to urge the delegates to back a campaign to see controversial hunting laws strengthened.

The event which also featured the haunting sound of baying hunt hounds was organised by national animal welfare charity the League Against Cruel Sports and comes ahead of an expected government consultation on hunting laws later this year.

It followed a fringe meeting at the conference on protecting wildlife and communities from crime and anti-social behaviour in the countryside, featuring shocking video of fox hunts running riot.

Campaigners from the League were also in Bournemouth for the Liberal Democrat conference and are set to protest outside the Conservative Party conference in Manchester next week.

Emma Slawinski, chief executive at the League Against Cruel Sports, said: “Fox hunting has been illegal for 20 years and yet this blood sport continues across England and Wales. The law is too weak, and as a result foxes are still being chased and killed, havoc is being inflicted on rural communities by the hunts – and it’s time for change.

“It’s time to properly strengthen the Hunting Act and end all hunting with hounds, and we urge the public and delegates at the party conferences to take part in the forthcoming consultation and demand an end to hunting wildlife with dogs.”

Figures published by the League following the last hunting season (August 2024 to April 2025) showed there were nearly 1,600 incidents consisting of 474 reports of suspected illegal hunting and 1,117 reports of hunts inflicting havoc on rural communities

The hunt havoc reports are incidents entirely inconsistent with so-called trail hunting, the discredited excuse used by hunts in which they purport to follow a pre laid scent.

They include hunt hounds running loose on railway lines and busy roads, (including 30 reports of road traffic accidents), trespass in areas such as people’s private gardens, livestock worrying, threatening and irresponsible illegal behaviour, and 19 cases of family pets being harmed.

Emma added: “Liverpool residents and delegates at the party conference, shocked by the sight of a hunter in red coat and blood-spattered fox, came up to us today to let us know they support stronger fox hunting laws as a way to end fox hunting for good.

“Their views are shared by the public across the country. The government’s consultation will be a pivotal moment in ensuring hunting is finally consigned to the dustbin of history – as it should have been two decades ago; it’s time to finish the job.”

Polling commissioned last year by the League and carried out by FindOutNow with further analysis by Electoral Calculus showed more than three-quarters (76 per cent) of the British public supported strengthening the Hunting Act.

Find out more about the forthcoming consultation, and how to make your voice heard, 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 524280 or email pressoffice@league.org.uk

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

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 full sets of data for the 2024/2025 fox and cub hunting seasons are available on request. The figures are compiled from the charity’s confidential Animal Crimewatch service and hunt monitors’ reports by the League’s intelligence team, which is staffed by former police officers and civilian analysts.

Trail hunting, the excuse often used by hunts, has been described by temporary assistant chief constable Matt Longman, the national lead on fox hunting crime, as a “smokescreen for illegal fox hunting”. He also described illegal hunting as “prolific”.

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).