Fox hunting: activists claim trail-hunts are a cover for continued bloodsport

Ahead of the year’s main Boxing Day hunt, saboteurs say hunters are not obeying the law and loopholes must be closed

Mattha Busby

Tue 26 Dec ‘17 06.00 GMTLast modified on Tue 26 Dec ‘17 06.02 GMT

As horses, hounds and hunters gather on the busiest day of the year for fox hunting, activists have raised concerns that trail-hunting is being used as a cover for bloodsport more than a decade after it was banned in the UK.

At least 300 hunts are expected to take place across the country on Boxing Day. Riders on horseback gallop behind a pack of hounds directed by a huntsman while terriermen, whose traditional role was to dig foxes out of holes so they could be hunted, follow on quad bikes. Hunt supporters bring up the rear on foot. They all say they’re legally trail-hunting – following an animal-based scent, often fox urine – with hounds for sport.

Engaged in a half-century game of cat and mouse with the hunters are the Hunt Saboteurs, a nonviolent direct action group who attempt to document and prevent the killing of animals. They say these hunts are not obeying the law and that recent videos apparently showing a huntswoman whipping an activist repeatedly and a female saboteur being assaulted requiring hospital treatment are just the tip of the iceberg.

The saboteurs believe hunting for bloodsport is continuing and that trail-hunting is an effective cover.

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Paul McCartney condemns 'cruel' proposals to bring back fox hunting

Friday 10 July 2015 11.42 BSTLast modified on Friday 10 July 201511.51 BST

Paul McCartney has issued a response to government proposals that could pave the way for the return of fox hunting.

On 9 July, the Conservatives published an amendment to the Hunting Act 2004 that – if passed by MPs in a vote on 15 July – would allow foxes to be hunted by packs of dogs in England and Wales, so long as it is “appropriate” for the terrain and done “efficiently” to protect other animals.

A statement from the musician, a longtime vegetarian and animal-rights activist, said that fox hunting was “cruel and unnecessary” and could cost the party support if the proposals were to go ahead:

The people of Britain are behind this Tory government on many things but the vast majority of us will be against them if hunting is reintroduced.

It is cruel and unnecessary and will lose them support from ordinary people and animal lovers like myself.

His sentiments echo those of Queen’s Brian May, who slammed pro-hunting activists on BBC’s Newsnight on 9 July. May criticised the Countryside Alliance, calling them “a bunch of lying bastards”.

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Animal welfare organisation launches new series of anti-hunters adverts

Hunters have been given a fox-like makeover in a controversial new advertising campaign launched by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to highlight illegal fox hunting.

‘The Sly Ones’ campaign, featuring photographs of models with subtle fox-like features and dressed in hunting attire, has been created to deliver the message that 10 years after the ban on hunting with hounds, foxes are still being illegally hunted.

The images are captioned ‘It’s not the foxes who are sly’ and IFAW is using this slogan in its campaign to have the anti-hunting laws in the UK tightened.

Philip Mansbridge, UK Director of IFAW, says: “As we campaign for a strengthening of the Hunting Act, we wanted an impactful advert to highlight the fact that many hunts continue to flout the law and are slyly getting away with it.

“The Hunting Act is a vital piece of wildlife legislation, but with hunts continuing to illegally chase or kill foxes and evade prosecution, it is time for the Act to be amended to make it more effective.

“With many hunts using a false alibi of trail hunting and other dubious tactics to get around the law, we wanted an image to reflect that and make people think about what is really going on.”

The IFAW is calling for three amendments to the Hunting Act:

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Boris Johnson’s deputy mayor declares war on urban foxes

Some politicians focus their policies on housing, some choose the economy and others aim for better transport.

But after being re-elected to the London Assembly last Friday, Kit Malthouse declared his first priority is to crack down on the rise of the urban fox in Westminster.

Staying true to his Conservative party roots, Mr Malthouse could be about to bring a form of fox-hunting to central London.

The Marylebone resident, who for the past four years has held the West Central London Assembly seat which consists of Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham, said the main issue that came up while he was canvassing prior to last week’s election was that of foxes.

“Last time I ran the big issue was dangerous dogs,” he said. “We have still got to complete our work on that but the issue that has come up this time is urban foxes.

“People are afraid to let their small children play outside because of them. They are more and more worried about the number of foxes as numbers continue to grow.

“I’m going to be looking closely at that issue to see if anything can be done.”

Mr Malthouse was responsible for London’s policing during his first term on the London Assembly, but he will now be London’s first ever deputy mayor for business and enterprise, a role that does not instantly lend itself to fox-hunting.

Last month, St John’s Wood resident Carol Gould, 58, told the Wood&Vale she was terrified when she saw a fox “the size of a wolf” near her house.

Westminster residents have complained about gangs of foxes and Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg, leader of the opposition, has gathered an 81-signature petition calling for action.

Westminster Council says foxes are not its responsibility as the animal is not classified as a pest. Mr Malthouse clearly disagrees.

http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/boris_johnson_s_deputy_mayor_declares_war_on_urban_foxes_1_1373838 

'Britain's biggest fox' killed

The huge specimen was bagged by Alan Hepworth near his home in Aberdeenshire and weighed 38lb 1oz.

Measuring 4ft 9in from head to tail it is almost three times the size of an average fox.

The animal is the latest in a series of extraordinarily large foxes killed recently in Britain, prompting fears over the threat they pose to livestock and humans.

Experts believe the explosion in the fox population in urban areas where food waste is abundant could explain the supersize creatures.

Mike Yardley, a spokesman for the Shooting Sports Trust, said: “The increase in the urban fox population means that some foxes now have the opportunity to eat much more than they have in the past. That could explain why we are seeing some of these larger examples.”

Jonathan Reynolds, senior research scientist at the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, added: “A 35lb fox would have been unthinkable a few years ago. We don’t know why they are getting bigger, but one possible explanation is that they are getting better fed in urban areas.”

Mr Hepworth’s specimen surpasses a 4ft 3in dog fox weighing 35lb 5oz which was killed by financial adviser Roy Lupton in East Grinstead, West Sussex in January.

The previous record was thought to be a 26.5lb fox caught by vet Keith Talbot at his parents’ home in Maidstone, Kent in 2010.

The average fox weighs between 12 and 18lb, experts claim.

There have been a number of reported fox attacks on domestic pets and livestock in recent months, while there has also been a rise in brazen foxes entering people's homes.

In June 2010, nine-month-old twins Lola and Isabella Koupparis were mauled by a fox in their cot at their home in East London while shortly afterwards three-year-old Jake Jermy was bitten on the arm by a fox in a playground in Brighton.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/9122498/Britains-biggest-fox-killed.html

Why fox hunting is more popular than ever

Warwickshire fox hunters say the law banning the sport is "a shambles" as they gather on the first day of the new season.

The riders breathed the aroma of hot wine, the hounds were hungry for a scent, but what you could really smell in the air at yesterday’s opening meeting of the Warwickshire Hunt was the exalted whiff of English contrariness.

By rights, this kind of scene should now be consigned to antique dinner plates and episodes of Downton Abbey. The nation’s huntsmen and women should have hung up their red jackets, retired their steeds and submitted meekly to the dictates of the urban tyranny. Strangely, it hasn’t happened like that. Seven years after the Labour government passed a contentious law intended to abolish hunting with hounds, the country’s hunts – which no longer chase a live animal, but merely a trail of artificial scent instead – are in the best shape anyone can remember.

Part of the reason is that the law has proved almost comically difficult to enforce. Beneath its stated object of outlawing the hunting of wild mammals with dogs, near-total confusion reigns. In theory, you can hunt mice, but not rats, rabbits but not hares, domestic cats but not wild ones. Birds of prey, but not foxhounds, can be set upon foxes. Yet a bigger factor appears to be that exquisitely delinquent streak in the British character that reacts against the hectoring and bossiness of officialdom. As a result, thousands of people who previously had little obvious interest in hunting have taken it up.

“Our membership has doubled to around 1,000 since the law was passed,” says Sam Butler, the Warwickshire’s ebullient Master. “The support we are getting from the communities is incredible. Our range of activities is expanding all the time. Even with the economy the way it is, when everyone’s watching where their money goes, we are hunting at least as much as ever.”

Certainly, yesterday’s season’s opener, at the hamlet of Oxhill, south of Stratford-upon-Avon, offered an image of reassuring well-being. On a damp, chilly morning, a hearty contingent of villagers turned out to cheer the hunt off. The local pub laid on breakfast and drinks. There were no protesters, no police, nothing that in any way detracted from a scene that has been a part of the English countryside for centuries.

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