A quick overview

Since the Labour Government was elected in July 2024, it committed to taking action to ban “trail hunting”.

While the Hunting Act 2004 banned the hunting of wild mammals for sport, fox hunting continued under the guise of “trail hunting”. For the last twenty years, hunt saboteurs and monitors caught hunts chasing and killing, over and over again, proving that the law was not working. Some hunts ended up with convictions, but most didn’t. Stag, hare, mink and otter hunting also continued.

Before bringing forward legislation, Defra (the department responsible for the new legislation) has launched a public Consultation.

It is a PUBLIC consultation, so we all need to take part. The Consultation closes on 18th June 2026.

The consultation itself is fairly straightforward and should not take long to complete. Some of the questions are a bit tricky, so we have produce some advice to help you.

While we are very happy to share our expertise, individual responses carry more weight, and we strongly encourage you to submit your own if you are able. However, you may want to read our advice first before submitting anything at all. 

To find our advice, click here.

For an overview of what the Government is asking in the Consultation, have a look at this pdf here: 

To fill it in online, click here. But please read our advice first. 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

info@actionagainstfoxhunting.org