Further information – “Do You Know What You’re Supporting?”
Hound Parades, Point-to-Point, Boxing Day Meets, Fundraisers, Displays at County Shows, Kennel Open Days – if you attend any of these events, you are contributing to animal cruelty.
Hunts make public appearances for several reasons: to raise money, recruit members and to make a show of respectability. Then, when they’ve got the money, the members and the respectability, they go out to hunt and kill foxes.
We are approaching the Christmas season, and the hunts will be getting ready for their public meets on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. They claim enormous public support for these events, but we know that 90% of residents don’t go to the meets. We need to get this figure up to 100%. Click on the “Boxing Day” link below to find out why.
If you are in any doubt about what the hunts get up to when the public aren’t looking, read on.
Why is THERE so much doubt about “trail hunting”
Hunts say they are “hunting legally”. The claim to be “trail hunting” which (they say) doesn’t involve a live animal. But, there are many reasons why you should doubt that any of this is true. These are some of the reasons:
- There is a huge amount of online video evidence of regular fox kills
- Monitors and saboteurs all tell us the hunts are killing, and campaigning groups (like AAF) want hunts banned completely
- Hunts banned by major landowners – National Trust included
- High-ranking hunters call “trail hunting” a smokescreen
- Secrecy of hunts, and violence against sabs and monitors.
- Number of recent prosecutions under the Hunting Act
Please click on the boxes below to find out more.
Any questions? Ask Pip info@actionagainstfoxhunting.org
BOXING DAY AND NEW YEAR’S DAY CONTENT COMING SOON
cub hunting
This takes place from the end of August, before the main hunting season. Hunts call it “Autumn Hunting”. Hunts need to train their new hounds to kill, so they get them to practise on fox cubs. The cubs were born in Spring, so they are growing up. The hunters go out early in the morning, wearing “rat catcher” jackets (tweed). The know where cubs are, so they head for the right place immediately. The cubs are usually sleeping in the den with their parent. The hunt sneak up, and surround the wood, on point. Suddenly, they make a terrifying noise, shouting and slapping their saddles, in order to wake up the foxes. The foxes scatter; the huntsman sends in the hounds and they kill as many cubs as possible.
dig outs
This is why the hunts take terrier men with them on hunts. 
Terrier men have no reason to be with the hunt other than for dig outs. They are a clear sign that hunts are hunting live quarry.
The boxes on the front of the quad bikes contain terriers and the terrier men carry spades. When a fox is being chased, he will often take refuge in a badger sett. Terrier men send their terrier in after the fox to keep it at bay, then the terrier men dig down through the top of the set to get to the fox. On one occasion, terrier men were seen to dig out the same fox FIVE TIMES and put him in front of the hounds again.
https://capture.dropbox.com/gzjh7J4gXCkxRQfI
Bagged Foxes
The hunts want to have fun during the day, and if they don’t find a fox, they go home disappointed. Terrier men are tasked with finding foxes in advance, often from “artificial earths” (AEs). This terrier man was caught on film doing just that. He was prosecuted and found guilty.
https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=212371114423389&_rdr
The fox is kept somewhere, then taken in a bag on the quad bike to the hunt and released for the hounds to chase. The fox is often deliberately wounded, so he can’t run far.
Tearing foxes apart
This is the aim of the hunt. See below for evidence of kills. Here is a picture of a fox that the Royal Artillery Hunt admitted to killing on Christmas Eve 2021 
Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show
A number of fox hunts, including the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale and the Portman Hunt, enjoy displaying their hounds at this show. During hunting season, both these hunts are regularly accompanied by saboteurs and monitors and they are definitely not trail hunting. Both are secretive and both actively prevent saboteurs and monitors from watching what they are doing. Both hunts have left evidence of fox kills, and both have been in court.
Here are further links:
https://www.wildlifeguardian.co.uk/news/hunting/huntsmans-son-fined-for-racial-abuse-of-woman/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-43397944
This year, however, the South Downs Bloodhounds might also be displaying. This is a CLEAN BOOT HUNT – one where the hounds follow the scent of a person. The huntsmen wear mustard coloured coats. The major difference between clean boot hunts and fox hunts is the breed of hounds they use. Fox hunts (Portman and BSV above) use foxhounds. 
For generations, foxhounds have been bred to kill foxes, so that is what they do.
Bloodhounds, however, are entirely different. They are harmless and make very good pets.
Last year (2021) AAF had a stall booked at the show, but after threats from the hunters, the show’s organisers cancelled it. (We did nothing wrong – the hunters did. Very telling). You can read about it here:
https://www.actionagainstfoxhunting.org/gillingham-and-shaftesbury-show-2021/
Online evidence
One of the worst videos of a fox kill can be seen here. This video, taken by Nottingham Hunt Saboteurs, shows a graphic kill by the Belvoir Hunt on 18th January 2022
https://www.facebook.com/nottssabs/videos/966739314275731
There are more videos available here:
Hunt Secrecy
Fox hunts act in secret. They do not publish the dates of their meets and they don’t want anyone to see what they are doing. As far as transparency is concerned – they are as dark as a black hole. We should all question why. Is it because they are hiding something? Drag Hunts, and Clean Boot Hunts, neither of which hunt live quarry, are quite the opposite. Google all of them and you’ll see the difference for yourself.
Hunt Violence
Some of the prosecutions (see below) are for assaults on sabs and monitors.
Here is a link to a collection of incidents of hunt violence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqdPRX7xNgc&t=78s
Bans by Major landowners
Last year, National Trust members voted to ban “trail” hunting on National Trust Land. Hunts were banned because they simply could not be trusted. This ban remains.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/national-trust-trail-fox-hunting-vote-b1964229.html
The Lake District National Park also banned them:
Forestry England – same ban
https://www.huntsabs.org.uk/forestry-england-confirm-hunting-ban-to-remain/
And Natural Resources, Wales
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-59337295
If none of these landowners trust the hunts, SHOULD YOU?
Trail Hunting is a “smokescreen”
This statement was make by a high-ranking member of the now defunct Hunting Office. Mark Hankinson, director of the Masters of Fox Hunting Association, along with some others, held some online training sessions concerning “trail hunting”. In it, he called trail hunting a “smokescreen”.
Trail hunting is a smokescreen for fox hunting.
Even before this training session was exposed, we already knew that trail hunting was a cover. Hunt DO NOT consent to the law – and said as much when they all vowed to defy the ban when it was imposed in 2005.
Here are some more details:
https://www.huntingact.org/wp-content/uploads/ifaw-uncovering-the-trail-of-lies.pdf
https://www.actionagainstfoxhunting.org/hankinson-and-the-webinar/
Prosecutions
After the “Trail hunting is a smokescreen” scandal (above), some police forces started looking harder at the hunts. Evidence came in from hunt saboteurs and monitors. It resulted in a rash of prosecutions.
Here is a list:
https://www.actionagainstfoxhunting.org/investigations-prosecutions-convictions-and-bans/
NB – this doesn’t mean that the Hunting Act is working well – it most certainly isn’t. It is weak and full of loopholes. We will never stop asking for it to be strengthened.
