Trail-hunting ban open to widespread abuse of law

Banning trail hunting as Labour promised will not stop hunts from killing foxes and deer because hunters would find other ways around the law, a new report warns.

- JANE DALTON

The report, titled Broken Law – How the Hunting Act has Failed, was drawn up by hunting opponents who claim the law is too easily abused, leaving wildlife with too little protection. This December marks 20 years since the Hunting Act was passed, before coming into force two months later.

Labour promised in its general election manifesto to end trail hunting, which involves following a scent trail laid by an animal or artificially. The aim is to replicate a traditional hunt without harming the animal and is not currently covered by the Hunting Act.

But activists from Action Against Foxhunting set out 23 recommendations on how the law should be amended to make it effective – including banning hounds from all private property without landowner permission.

The report, seen by The Independent and which will be sent to environment secretary Steve Reed, other MPs and the National Wildlife Crime Unit, bases its findings on 25 cases in which a fox, stag, mink or hare was chased or killed by a hunt.

Of those, 11 cases were dropped either by police or the Crown Prosecution Service and did not lead to a prosecution, and 12 resulted in a prosecution but a not guilty verdict. Several cases failed because the prosecution “could not prove beyond all reasonable doubt” that the person in control of the hounds intended to hunt a wild mammal.