The reality of fox hunting in the words of our supporters
Posted 14th May 2026
During the last fox and cub hunting seasons, from August 2025 to March 2026, the League recorded 488 reports of foxes being pursued, along with 1,220 reports of anti-social behaviour and havoc inflicted on rural communities by fox hunts.
While the statistics on hunting are awful to see, we know it can be difficult to picture what this actually looks like for our wildlife and rural communities across the country. We reached out to our supporters to ask them to share their own experiences of hunting. The stories below are a small selection of the responses we received and are written in their own words. These words show the reality of ‘trail’ hunting and the impact this activity has on people and animals.
“One day I saw a lone huntsman desperately whipping at a pack of hounds that had invaded the housing estate at the edge of town. I did not see the fox who presumably was the reason for their incursion and had the presence of mind to escape the hounds via that route, despite their understandable fear. On another occasion I noticed a pack of hounds coursing across the fields, then stopped my car as a fox escaped by crossing the road in front of me. Then the hounds spilled onto the road, at fault and running up and down it while other motorists braked to avoid collisions with them and each other, followed eventually by huntsmen on foot trying to bring the hounds off the road.”
“We regularly see members of fox hunts in the area, just generally causing chaos on the roads and footpaths. Apart from the people on horseback, there always seems to be several groups of other people, with quadbikes and terrier dogs driving up and down footpaths and actually in the woods too. On one occasion the hunt was very aggressive in their attitude and seemed to be responding to a horn being blown. Further into our walk we came across some men in the woods with quad bikes who were furtively filling badger holes with shovels. Further along the path we could see into the adjacent field beside the woods and could clearly see the majority of the horses galloping along the side of the field chasing a fox that stood out clearly with the hounds in pursuit. This was no trail hunt.”
“In our village the fear of hearing the horn and getting our dogs back to the car as quickly as possible is a yearly experience. Driving through our village with cars parked willy nilly so we have to try and carefully manoeuvre to get out whilst riders and friends all cheer the hunt and when the dogs bay, we know they are onto an animal. They cross land they are not supposed to and the poor deer are run onto barbed wire.”
“Members of the hunt asked if they could use our land. We said no. This made us a target for bullying and intimidation. Even if we went out for a run or a cycle the hunts would block our paths/vehicles to try and bully and intimidate us. We no longer felt safe living there. Our mental and then our physical health became impacted. We witnessed horrors on numerous occasions pretty much on our doorstep. We could no longer enjoy the beautiful countryside there. We saw herds of beautiful deer as well as foxes running for their lives.”
“My friend had cattle that aborted calves when the hunt stampeded through her land.”
“As a little boy I saw the tearing apart of a fox - never again! Sport? No. Horror? Yes.”
“The so called 'trail hunt' were there on horseback with hounds. One was blocking the road on horseback, and the hounds were all over the road, the rest of the horses and riders in the fields.”
Thank you to our supporters for sharing these words. Reading these personal stories of the effect of illegal hunting across the country, really shows the cruel reality of this so-called sport. We now have a chance to end this cruelty. The government consultation on hunting is accepting responses until 18 June. This is our chance to put an end to the types of stories you’ve just read. This is our chance to put an end to illegal hunting. Please respond to the consultation today to help us consign this cruel sport to history.