Trail hunters call sport 'vital' amid ban threat

Supporters say trail hunting is "vital" to rural communities

Trail hunters in the west of England are calling for the "vital" sport to be protected, as the government continues to consider banning it.

Trail hunting replaced traditional fox hunting when it was outlawed in 2004 and sees a hunt follow a scent laid out in advance rather than chasing an actual animal.

The British Hound Sports Association held a National Trail Hunting Day on Friday with events in Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire hoping to highlight their legitimacy.

A Defra spokesperson said: "This government is committed to ban trail hunting and will set out next steps in due course." In December, it said the sport was "being exploited as a smokescreen to cruelly kill foxes and hares".

Anti trail hunting group the League Against Cruel Sports said in April that nearly 1,600 incidents, including 397 reports of foxes being chased, were recorded nationwide during the last hunting season.

"The league's figures reveal that the west of England was a particular fox hunting hot spot, with Gloucestershire, Dorset and Somerset recording the highest figures of all the counties in England and Wales," a statement from the group said.

'Misinformation'

However, the British Hound Sports Association (BHSA) says trail hunts are "vital" to rural communities as they not only bring in money into the rural economy, but also support mental and physical wellbeing.

Olly Hughes, BHSA managing director, said: "Misinformation about trail hunting is not accidental - it is driven by activists with an ideological agenda who will not accept the facts.

"The reality is that trail hunting is specifically designed to showcase the skill of hounds without any impact on wildlife.

"It is a lawful, ethical, sustainable and well-regulated activity, and remains at the heart of rural communities across England and Wales."

Events took place on Friday in Chard and Stow-on-the-Wold.

Sam Butler from the Countryside Alliance's Campaign for Hunting said the hounds used for trail hunting were "well disciplined"

Speaking to the BBC at the Stow-on-the-Wold trail hunt, Sam Butler from the Countryside Alliance's Campaign for Hunting said: "If the hounds chance upon a fox the protocol is to stop them immediately."

He said the hounds were "well disciplined", and "we record that so that we've got evidence of doing so".

But Lyn Sawyer, a self-described hunt saboteur, speaking to the BBC in the Cotswolds, said: "This [trail hunting] is a smokescreen.

"We would not be here if they were just doing what they say they're doing. We would not be spending three, four, five days a week out in the field getting wet, cold, walking for miles if they were not hunting foxes."

The government plans to run a consultation on banning trail hunting, but when it will start is not clear.