'Cruelty, Chaos, And Criminality' Is Rife Ahead Of Hunting Season, Charity Says

‘Cruelty, Chaos, And Criminality’ Rife Ahead Of Hunting Season, Charity Says

Campaigners have long argued that illegal activity remains rife throughout the UK's hunting community

3rd December 2024

3 Minutes Read

British nonprofit Protect the Wild has found that there were more than 300 incidents of “hunt cruelty, chaos, and criminality” before this year’s hunting season even began.

Protect the Wild compiles a yearly report of incidents such as wildlife persecution observed by the hunt saboteurs and monitors attending hunting meets. The pre-season figures for 2024 show 330 recorded incidents of all kinds, including animal deaths and violence.

The UK hunting season begins in late October or early November. This is preceded by around three months of “autumn hunting,” or “cubbing,” during which staff train new hounds by specifically pursuing young foxes and hares. Staghound packs also hunt mature stags (male deer) during this same period before switching to hinds (female deer).

This year, that three-month period saw hunts chase 47 foxes and kill three. They also chased nine hares and killed one. Monitors observed 52 incidents of hunts chasing deer and 13 incidents of hunts killing them. Hunts also interfered with badger sets 11 times.

‘These are not the actions of decent people’

Photo shows a red fox pausing in a grassy field — Adobe Stock Hunting mammals with dogs has been illegal for over 20 years, but the 2023 – 2024 season saw at least 364 incidents of hounds chasing foxes

Protect the Wild’s report also details hundreds of additional incidents, including 50 different traffic offenses, physical and verbal attacks on saboteurs and monitors, and more.

A separate Protect the Wild report from September found that nearly 600 wild animals were chased or killed during the 2023 to 2024 hunting season. Both reports found that there are incidents of some kind at the majority of hunting meets. However, only a fraction of the nearly 20,000 hunting days in a season are witnessed by members of the public.

“These are not the actions of decent people – and they are actions that were outlawed 20 years ago,” said Protect the Wild’s Glen Black, who authored both reports. “Nonetheless, the figures already reported by activists give a glimpse into just how committed hunts are to hurting wildlife, with these outlawed actions still commonplace two decades later.”