RURAL SURVEYS 2023
It has never been more important to prove that people living in rural areas do not support hunting. The Countryside Alliance is constantly telling the public that everyone who lives in a rural area enjoys a bit of animal-killing sport. This is so obviously untrue – and we can say that as much as we like – but without actual DATA no one will listen. Last year, we spoke to over 1000 people living in rural areas and asked them the question “Do you support foxhunting?” Only 7% said they did.
The difference between our surveys and everyone else’s is that WE ASK PEOPLE IN PERSON, IN THE STREETS.
We need to do more of this in 2023. Can you help? We have all the resources for you. All you need is survey sheets, a clipboard and a pen. And a rural town to stand in and ask questions.
The Purpose of the Survey
The purpose of all our surveys is to find the truth. This is why we conduct them on the streets, rather than online. We want to talk to everybody, regardless of their views. The only way to achieve this is to be open and welcoming to all.
When speaking to a respondent, we will behave in a neutral way, and not attempt to influence their answers.
Some respondents will be pro blood sports, some will be anti, some will be neutral.
We will treat everyone with equal respect.
While we need to identify ourselves as AAF in order not to appear underhand, our identity must not be too obvious in our dress. Our hi vis vests are appropriate, but hunt sab t-shirts are not.
Find out about our surveys by clicking on the links below.
Survey sheets are available from Pip at info@actionagainstfoxhunting.org
Conducting the Surveys
1. Volunteers must identify themselves as AAF by wearing AAF hi vis tabards.
2. Anti foxhunting material (leaflets etc) can be available, but should be low-key and kept to a minimum while the survey is conducted. This is to encourage everyone to take part, regardless of their views.
3. Volunteers should approach as many members of the public as possible. Do not wait for them to approach you. This ensures that we gather answers from random passers-by, as well as people who are interested in the subject anyway.
4. If someone refuses to take part, volunteers must not persist.
5. Volunteers must treat everyone equally.
6. Volunteers must be polite at all times.
7. Volunteers must record all responses accurately.
Collating the results
1. All completed sheets must show date and location.
2. Use new sheets for each new session. Do not use the same sheet for a new session.
3. Use Survey Totals sheets to record results.
Boxing Day and New Year’s Day totals
Rural Survey Totals
and submit them to info@actionagainstfoxhunting.org
Rural Survey
The purpose of this survey is to find out whether people who live in a rural area support foxhunting.
What is a rural area?
“Rural” is defined as “any population, housing, or territory NOT in an urban area“. The respondents can usually determine for themeslves whether they live in a rural area or not. Some towns (eg Frome) are “rural hub towns” and residents are considered rural. Towns with a small population (up to about 10 000) are also rural. It is important to ask the respondent for their postcode (if they are willing to give it) as that might banish doubt later.
Advice for coordinators
Contact Pip for guidance on the specific area you plan to survey. Click here to see “Guidance for Dorchester”.
These are the questions:
1. Do you live in a rural area?
2. Do you support foxhunting?
3. Do you know hunts are still killing foxes?
4. Postcode
For question no 2, some people might be neutral. This response will be recorded as “neutral”.
Do you come from a rural, or semi-rural area?
Guidance
Respondents can usually judge for themselves whether they come from a rural area or not.
Respondents do not necessarily have to live in a rural area now to consider themselves as rural. If they have lived in a clearly rural area for a reasonable portion of their life, they count as rural.
What counts as rural?
- Isolated dwelling
- Hamlet
- Village
- Town with rural fringe
Small towns (under 10k population) are always rural (eg Sherborne, Dorset).
Bigger towns (over 10k population) can be either rural or urban. However, some of these towns are officially classified as “rural hub towns”
Large towns and cities (over 30k population) are usually urban. However, if they have a rural fringe and the person lives in that rural fringe, then this also counts as rural.
DORCHESTER is a city. Population is around 20k and there are rural villages on its borders.
It is also classified as a “Rural hub town”
West Dorset is “mainly rural”
Definitions have been taken from:
Includes map of UK, with rural/urban areas marked.
Local Authorities listed by name:
Rural Hub towns can be found here:
Boxing Day and New year’s Day Survey
The purpose of this survey is to find out if locals actually attend the Boxing Day or New Year’s Day meet in their town.
We have combined the results with a) the Rural Survey finding out the number of people who support/don’t support foxhunting and b) an awareness survey. In some areas, we ran the Rural Survey and the Boxing Day survey side by side. If a respondent didn’t come from the Boxing Day Meet Town, we switched to the Rural Survey, in order not to lose their response.
The full results of this survey will be published later.
These are the questions:
1. Do you live in [town]?
2. Did you go to the Boxing Day or New Year’s Day meet?
3. Do you know hunts are still killing foxes?
4. Do you support foxhunting?
SURVEY REVEALS MAJORITY OF RURAL RESIDENTS DO NOT SUPPORT FOXHUNTING.
A survey conducted by non profit, AAF (Action Against Foxhunting) has revealed that 85% of people living in the countryside do not support the illegal practice of fox hunting. Only 7% of residents supported the sport, with 8% undecided.
The survey so far has been conducted in seventeen rural areas such as Frome, Dorchester and Salisbury. 1014 people responded. Out of the 1014 rural residents, 85% said they do not support foxhunting; 7% said they do support foxhunting and 8% were undecided. A spokesperson from AAF said that a cross section of society had been involved in the survey, aiming to take into account the opinions of many age groups and genders.
The survey shows greater numbers of people being aware that hunts still kill foxes, than those who are unaware, and assume the sport no longer continues in the typical traditional way. Evidence collected by AAF and other charities previously proved that in many areas, the sport still leads to fox deaths, despite hunts claiming to “trail hunt” (where the scent of a fox is laid and followed) instead.
Pip Donovan, co-founder of AAF, said: “It is often assumed that people who live in towns do not support fox hunting, while people who live in rural areas do. In AAF, we already knew that there is a great deal of objection to fox hunting in rural areas, so we set out to quantify it with our survey.” Pip Donovan said that the results were decisive in concluding that rural people do not support fox hunting.
She said: “Rural people see illegal fox-hunting going on all the time, and most of them hate it, but the hunts insist that those who object to fox hunting are in the minority ‘around here’ and as such they should just put up with it. In fact, the hunt’s popularity in rural areas is a myth, a delusion – and, disturbingly, a means to intimidate people into staying quiet about the hunts’ illegal activities.”
Hunts often state that hunting is for the rural community, and have used this opinion in campaigns to overturn the hunting ban. AAF is adamant that the hunts do not have the support they claim.
Holly Piper
