Fox hunting's determined defiance

Scotland's laws mean nothing if we lack the ability to enforce them.

What happens when a privileged few decide laws that protect animal welfare simply don't apply to them? The answer played out across Scotland's countryside last winter.

Two decades after Scotland first banned hunting with dogs in 2002, and two years after strengthening that legislation in 2023, our second annual report on activities of mounted hunts since the enactment of the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act 2023, documents as a masterclass in obstruction and evasion from those who consider themselves above the law.

Make no mistake, fox hunting is illegal in Scotland. Yet a dwindling but determined group continued to flout this ban with brazen confidence during the traditional fox hunting season, treating recent legislation as an inconvenient obstacle to overcome rather than the law of the land.

When I walk Edinburgh's streets, I often see young men in masks tearing through traffic on unregistered e-bikes, defying road safety laws with impunity. They're highly visible yet frustratingly difficult to police. Throughout the past hunting season, the fox hunting fraternity operated with the same contempt for the law but wrapped itself in a cloak of rural tradition and pseudo-legitimacy that makes their defiance even more pernicious.

Four of Scotland's ten mounted hunts claim they've shut down since the legislation was strengthened. This represents genuine progress, but our fieldworkers documented disturbing evidence of others' determination to continue by using increasingly sophisticated evasion tactics throughout the 2024-2025 season.

Some hunts now claim they are "drag hunting", supposedly following an artificial scent, but our footage shows packs of dogs in supposed "drag hunts" following a scent across a blind bend in a road, a dangerous and unlikely place to lay a scent. We also have footage of a pack of fox hounds in another “drag hunt” searching thick gorse which would be impenetrable to someone laying a scent. 

Others exploit the licensing scheme that permits using more than two dogs in exceptional circumstances. When the Scottish Government established this licensing system under NatureScot, Ministers assured us licenses would be "rigorous" and "the exception, not the rule." Yet the reality has proven starkly different.

During the 2024/2025 season, NatureScot issued over 60 licenses, a number that defies any reasonable definition of exceptional. Landowners need only claim they have serious fox predation issues and have "tried everything else" to secure permission for packs of hounds on their land. There's minimal verification of these claims, and critically, virtually no unannounced compliance monitoring.

In fact, NatureScot gives hunts 48 hours’ notice before any inspection, essentially announcing, "we'll be watching you on Saturday, so please follow the rules that day." This makes a mockery of enforcement.

The League has offered to enhance NatureScot's limited monitoring capacity by seconding experienced field investigators to assist. These offers have been declined. Our recent Data Sharing Application requesting basic information about license activities still awaits a response.

The consequences of this regulatory weakness were entirely predictable. Police Scotland is currently investigating four mounted hunts for alleged illegal hunting, including two that operated under NatureScot licenses last season.

The hunting fraternity's persistent evasion tactics during the past season send a dangerous message: that with enough determination and the right connections, some people can place themselves beyond the reach of law.

The fox hunting saga offers a sobering case study in the gap between legislative intent and practical implementation. The Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act 2023 represented a genuine achievement by the Scottish Government, a clear response to public will and evidence-based policymaking. But what value is even the most progressive legislation if it lacks the resources and resolve for enforcement?

This is not just an animal welfare issue, it speaks to fundamental questions about democratic governance. How do we ensure that laws passed to protect public interests aren't undermined by powerful minority groups with vested interests and the means to resist? The hunting lobby may be diminishing, but its influence remains disproportionate to its size.

The current administration deserves credit for passing stronger legislation, yet voters might rightly question the follow-through. When Ministers declare that fox hunting has "no place in modern Scotland" but then establish a licensing system that permits over 60 exceptions in a single season with minimal oversight, the disconnect is striking. And it’s not just fox hunting. We see the same pattern in the implementation of the grouse shoot licencing scheme, and the scheme for the killing of mountain hares.

This pattern should concern anyone invested in Scotland's important land reform agenda. Scotland's bold visions for community ownership, environmental stewardship, and equitable land use will face similar resistance from those who benefit from the status quo. Will those reforms also suffer from inadequate enforcement mechanisms and resource constraints?

Fox hunting has been a test case for whether the Scottish Government can translate popular will into practical reality. It teaches us that creating change requires strong legislation that reflects public values, adequate resources for monitoring and enforcement, and the political courage to stand firm when faced with resistance from privileged minorities.

The majority of Scots who support the ban on fox hunting deserve nothing less than its full and proper enforcement. The era of fox hunting must end, not through gradual surrender to determined resistance, but through robust and uncompromising application of the law.

When we draw the final curtain on fox hunting in Scotland, it will mark not just a victory for animal welfare, but for the principle that in a true democracy, no one stands above the law.

Robbie Marsland is Director of Scotland and Northern Ireland for the League Against Cruel Sports