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Independent readers responding to the government’s proposal to ban trail hunting have backed the move, with many saying it is long overdue and necessary to close what they see as a long-abused loophole in the law.
Most commenters insisted trail hunting is routinely used as a cover for illegal foxhunting, citing personal experiences. Several argued that only a full ban would end the cruelty, alleging that hunts operate with impunity and that saboteurs face intimidation precisely because they document illegal activity.
Some readers pushed back on the ban, however, warning it risks harming rural communities and livelihoods. They argued trail hunting is lawful, misunderstood by “townies”, and supports jobs across the countryside, from farriers and vets to pubs and feed merchants.
Some suggested stricter regulation or independent observers rather than an outright ban, while others feared hunts would simply go underground.
Hunting bodies rejected claims of widespread wrongdoing. A British Hunt Association spokesperson said: “Trail hunting remains lawful, and we do not accept the premise that it should be banned. It supports livelihoods, keeps small rural businesses going and holds communities together, with well over ten thousand hounds and many thousands of horses kept specifically for this lawful purpose.
“This is more than a pastime – it is part of the economic and social lifeblood of the countryside, something that will be visible again when Boxing Day meets draw large crowds.”
Here’s what you had to say:
Hope the ban comes in really quickly
What about stag hunting? I have both fox and stag hunting going on around my 10-acre property in the rural South West. It’s disgusting what goes on.
I’ve witnessed hounds kill a fox on my land and I have also seen terrier men. I’m thankful never to have witnessed a stag or deer being killed. Hope the ban comes in really quickly.
PeaceintheCountryside
Ignorance over trail hunting and rural life
The level of ignorance over trail hunting and rural life in general is obvious from the comments on this and other threads on the same topic. There’s a high degree of mob mentality and propaganda-driven arguments from people who have never had any sort of experience or personal knowledge of what they are arguing so vehemently about.
I’ve watched our local hunt work tirelessly to promote trail hunting, witnessed the runners laying the trails, the community events, and the pride and effort in training the dogs and horses.
There are so many misconceptions, one being that everyone involved in hunting is upper or middle class – they are not. Most “horsey” people are skint because what money they do have goes into their passion for horses.
Aspects of countryside management are carried out by hunts – who will take up that mantle? Not very many people are set up to dispatch dead livestock. Jobs, animals and lifestyles are now all at risk. Not to mention local pubs (another brutalised industry), saddleries, farriers, feed merchants, farmers (again), vets… the list is extensive.
Farmers and people in the countryside are struggling. Successive governments are responsible for decimating the farming industry at a time when food sustainability is more important than ever before on an increasingly precarious world stage.
The worst behaviour I’ve ever known on hunts comes from the “saboteurs”, who are almost so blinded by prejudice and hatred that they have been unwilling to ever accept trail hunts within the law.
I’ll get a lot of grief for this post because it goes against the grain. It’s not a popular opinion, but like so many other popular opinions nowadays, facts, reality and respect for people living a different lifestyle count for nothing.
Sarahintheshire
Regulate trail hunting
I have to applaud the UK on this – here in Ireland the three main parties voted against banning actual fox hunting last week, despite Sinn Féin promising to abolish it in 2020 and almost 90 per cent of people wanting a ban. We do not have a functioning democracy.
What I would do with trail hunting is maybe regulate it – have an observer present. Their fee wouldn’t be much between the hunt members, or it could be funded by a licence. Too many times the hunt saboteurs have seen these “trail hunting” parties kill foxes and then pretend the hounds lost control.
Damo75
Disgusting
I can’t understand why all kinds of hunting haven’t yet been banned.
How on earth can gentry get a kick out of dogs ripping other animals like foxes to shreds when that’s still legal in Ireland?
And they call it a hobby?
Utterly disgusting.
Amy
Do people even know the difference?
Do people even know the difference between trail and drag hunting? It doesn’t sound like it. There seems to be an increase in coursing, legal or not.
One unexpected consequence of the demise of hunting and shooting is the disappearing game bird and fox population in the actual countryside – just the occasional skinny “RSPCA” fox that has been released “into the wild” and hangs around here on bin day. Most just get shot and snared, I think, and very few pheasant shoots now remain; many have folded.
I’ve lived in the same rural location for nearly fifty years, so think I can vouch for this. Once something is without value commercially, it’s inevitable – like the Jersey bull calf. Think about that when you put cream on your mince pies.
As for bloodlines that go back to William the Conqueror – off to Crufts with the hounds.
Olecountry
A declaration of power
The hunters will ignore it, as they do currently. Their cruel activities are not “sporting” or to do with conservation, as they cynically insist, but a declaration of power.
They demonstrate a widely held view of country folk that they own the land and areas in which they live and won’t be dictated to by ignorant “townies”.
hayneman
Sadly, it is not a rare thing
My local hunt has been fined for chasing foxes. They have also been involved in blocking fox hides prior to hunts to prevent foxes hiding. They have killed domestic animals in the back gardens of their owners. The list goes on.
Sadly, it is not a rare thing.
Sanch1
Enough is enough
Trail hunters routinely flout the ban on chasing foxes in my village.
Enough is enough – let’s put an end to this disgusting “sport”.
Muggerss
They can’t have realised the previous ban would be ignored
They can [hunt without hounds], but the hunts will tell you it isn’t possible and that “all the poor little doggies will have to be shot because of cruel, silly townies”.
I saw all the comments and threats 20-odd years ago when Labour first brought in the ban. They can’t have realised that the ban would be ignored by those with enough money and influence to get away with breaking the law, and getting their serfs to assault hunt monitors, slash tyres, even drive a tractor into a car with hunt monitors in, while they themselves rode horses into little female sabs or whipped them, sneered, and made threats.
Proof enough, if proof was ever needed, that the UK isn’t a democracy where all are equal with equal rights and responsibilities, but has always been a plutocracy – a country run by and for the benefit of the wealthy elite.
Only when we become a republic will this country stand a chance of justice and becoming a democracy.
fenwoman
Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity.
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