According to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs the Animal Welfare Strategy, external sets out how the government will protect wildlife by banning trail hunting amidst concerns it was being used as a “smokescreen for hunting”.
The League Against Cruel Sports said the number of foxes seen being chased, trespass, and other behaviour outlawed by the Hunting Ban have all increased.
Emma Slawinski, the League’s CEO, said: “While we applaud the government’s commitment to consult on trail hunting, ministers need to go further and close the many loopholes in the law that make prosecuting illegal hunting so difficult for the police and courts – to properly end hunting for good.”
The Countryside Alliance, which campaigns to maintain trail hunting with hounds, described the government’s animal welfare strategy as “little more than virtue signalling that in some areas will do more harm than good”.