Many of you will be aware of the Westminster Government’s recently published Animal Welfare Strategy in which it committed, amongst other things, to opening a public consultation on how to ban trail hunting (a smokescreen for Fox hunting).
That public consultation has now opened and will close on 18 June 2026. I very much support a ban on trail hunting and would encourage anyone who agrees to fill in the consultation. It’s important to note that the consultation isn’t so much about whether to ban trail hunting, but rather how best to implement a ban that will be the most effective.
For those who want some guidance on how to respond to the consultation questions, I’d recommend you read this advice from the League Against Cruel Sports or this advice from the Hunt Saboteurs Association. Both organisations have been at the forefront of documenting illegal hunts and campaigning against them for decades, both before and after the Hunting Act was enacted in 2004 that was supposed to ban the hunting of most wild mammals with dogs.
The Hunt Saboteurs have also produced this helpful document that clarifies many of the issues:
The parallels with the illegal killing of birds of prey in the UK countryside are not difficult to see – widespread lawlessness, depraved animal cruelty, constant denials that it’s happening despite volumes of unequivocal evidence, and the relentless abuse and harassment of those campaigning for it to end. Both are crimes and both are now listed as National Wildlife Crime Priorities.
The main difference, I think, is that raptor persecution tends to happen in areas and at times where it is difficult to detect (e.g. on private gamebird shooting estates and often under the cover of darkness) whereas Fox and Stag hunting takes place in plain sight, which often leads to violent confrontation.
In addition to participating in the public consultation, there will be a peaceful, family-oriented rally in London on Saturday 9th May 2026, organised by the League Against Cruel Sports, where campaigners and supporters will gather to draw attention to the issue.
This will be at Old Palace Yard (outside the Houses of Parliament) from 3.15pm to 4.30pm. I hope that some of you can make it.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Thank you for this Ruth – from a long-term member of LACS, a somewhat shorter-term member of the HSA and also a supporter of Protect the Wild, who often channel funds to the HSA groups.
I see that RSPCA are also calling for support to ban ‘Trail Hunting’ and point their readers to a takeaction LACS quick-fill web page.
The LACS’ Witness the end of Hunting booklet has some editing error on page 10 (fifth paragraph doesn’t make much sense).
I couldn’t help noticing that the answer advice from LACS and HSA sometimes directly contradict each other, although the textual advice was always very similar.
That might be important, depending how the Department (Defra) collate the responses?
Q13 LACS – yes HSA – no
Q18 LACS – no HSA – yes
Q20 LACS – no HSA – yes
Q21 did not have a yes/no question but the HSA advised yes
Q23 LACS – yes HSA – no
Q26 LACS – no HSA did not say
I therefore decided to answer as I saw fit: the textual answer was more important than the yes/no/don’t know boxes, but – of course – Defra might just lump all the yeses (or nos) together and count them (crass but possible)?
Something I made a point of mentioning was that training a pack of dogs should not be conflated with training a single dog. It appeared to me part way through that Defra were implying that if, say, a pack of dogs should not ever be trained with animal scent, then no single dog should ever be trained with animal scent. But what about single dogs which are trained with animal scents for purposes other than hunting to kill something? Rescue? Identity presence for conservation purposes? Smuggling of rare species?
It should not be difficult to ban pack training without compromising all the benefits of dogs’ remarkable ability to smell vanishingly small quantities, perhaps by restricting which specific breeds are allowed animal scent training?
The vital difference between hunting hounds and Bloodhounds was well made by both LACS and HSA.
Too many foxes are hunted to death under the guise of trail hunting -a hobby. of. a few
To
Time it was stoppef!