Gloucestershire trail hunting demonstration slammed as a smokescreen

National animal welfare charity the League Against Cruel Sports has slammed a trail hunting demonstration being held by the North Cotswold Hunt on Friday as a “smokescreen and lame PR exercise” intended to cover up illegal fox hunting.

The charity pointed to figures from the last hunting season (August 2024 to March 2025) showing the North Cotswold Hunt was involved in 21 cases of suspected illegal fox hunting, including 17 cases in which it was seen chasing a fox, and 32 cases in which it inflicted havoc on rural communities.

These reports are entirely inconsistent with so-called trail hunting, the discredited excuse invented by hunts after the fox hunting ban came into force 20 years ago, in which they purport to follow a pre laid scent.

John Petrie, League Against Cruel Sports senior campaigns manager, said: “So-called trail hunting is being used by the hunts to deceive the public, police and courts and conceal that foxes are still being hunted despite the ban.

“The North Cotswold Hunt trail hunting demonstration is a smokescreen and lame PR exercise which flies in the face of all the evidence pointing to the brutal blood sport of fox hunting still taking place.”

The hunt havoc included incidents of the hunts engaged in anti-social behaviour, running riot on roads, trespassing on people’s property, attacking a family pet, all activities completely at odds with following a trail.

The figures show Gloucestershire has the second highest number of fox hunting incidents of any county across England and Wales with 74 reports of suspected illegal hunting, 63 reports of foxes being chased and 141 reports of hunt havoc.

Polling commissioned last year by the League and carried out by FindOutNow with further analysis by Electoral Calculus showed nearly three quarters (74 per cent) of the Gloucestershire public supported strengthening the Hunting Act.

The government has now pledged to hold a consultation to ban trail hunting which is expected later this year.

John Petrie added: “The time for change is now and we are urging the Gloucestershire public to take part in the forthcoming consultation on banning trail hunting.

“Trail hunting should be banned, all the loopholes in the Hunting Act removed, and custodial sentences introduced for those members of hunts that break the law.”

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

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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.

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.

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

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).