The Hunting Act may have come into force on February 19 but if you were to take a stroll in the countryside this weekend, chances are you might come across riders with dogs chasing a fox or stag. So what is going on?
In a nutshell, the ban on hunting only covers certain types of hunting, most obviously the catching and killing of mammals (except rats and rabbits) by packs of hounds. However, a pair of dogs can still be legally used to flush out foxes from woodland and into the open, when they can be shot. It is also within the law for a pack of dogs to follow a scent and/ or to flush out foxes for birds of prey to hunt.
The Countryside Alliance, a pro-hunting organisation which has a liking to calling the ban "temporary", has produced a booklet detailing what is and is not permitted within the law. Its chief executive, Simon Hart, says that hunts will be testing the act over the coming months of the new hunting season, which gets underway in earnest this weekend.
The League Against Cruel Sports has objected to some of the advice given by the booklet. It has produced its own explainer as to what is within the law, and a campaign to ensure hunts that break the rules are brought to book.
The Hawk Board, which generally works closely with the Countryside Alliance, is "fundamentally opposed" to allowing hunts to buy birds of prey to circumnavigate the law.
Ultimately, however, it will be less than clear how far hunters can stretch the law until the first prosecutions take place.
