The Hunt Saboteurs Association has exposed that a national pro-fox hunting group is planning a national event around trail hunting in an attempt to legitimise it. Of course, in reality this is more about creating a smokescreen to lay cover for actual illegal fox hunting. Chris Packham has slammed the event – saying the organisers should instead “go home and put the kettle on”.
‘National Trail Hunting Day’ = Smokescreen Saturday
On Saturday 14 September, pro-bloodsports group the British Hound Sports Association will hold a ‘National Trail Hunting Day’, designed to present a façade of lawfulness to the widespread illegal hunting still occurring today in England and Wales.
The coordinated series of events – dubbed ‘Smokescreen Saturday’ by the Hunt Saboteurs Association – will see fox, hare, stag, and mink hunters gather in 30 locations across the country. The day will also involve a scent trail being laid for hounds in front of an invited audience of journalists, police, and politicians. The intention is to present so-called ‘trail hunting’ as a legitimate activity.
However, it is widely accepted that ‘trail hunting’ has been used for the last 20 years as a smokescreen to disguise illegal hunting. ‘Trail hunting’ is already banned in Scotland, and the new Labour government has committed to banning it in England and Wales too.
The event proposed for 14 September is a smokescreen in itself – it bears no resemblance to ‘trail hunting’ as described by the British Hound Sports Association on their own web site.
Illegal fox hunting is rife
The British Hound Sports Association is not a credible regulatory organisation. It is run from the same premises and by the same people as the Hunting Office – the discredited organisation behind the ‘smokescreen’ webinars that were repeatedly featured on ITV News. One of the two national organisers of the event has been convicted under the Hunting Act, the other was a presenter on the ’smokescreen’ webinars.
Further to this, a number of hunts hosting events on this day have recent and ongoing convictions, court proceedings and criminal investigations relating to illegal fox hunting and violence. A few notable, but by no means exceptional, examples are:
Two members of West Norfolk Foxhounds were recently found guilty of two counts of illegal hunting, on two separate occasions, including one where hounds invaded a private garden and killed a fox which was later aired on ITV News.
The South Shropshire Hunt have a pending court case for alleged offences relating to illegal fox hunting, and were also given a Community Protection Warning by police this season. Huntsman and spokesperson for the event, Daniel Cherriman, was found guilty of illegally hunting a fox while trespassing on National Trust land.
The Cottesmore Hunt have made newspaper headlines for violence this year. In March 2024, men acting as security for the hunt were arrested and hunt vehicles were seized after drugs were found and following a string of violence incidents, some of which were reported in national papers. Last year, a hunt supporter was given a suspended prison sentence after deliberately running over a hunt saboteur with her car.
Chris Packham: stop the fox hunting
Approximately 12,000 actual hunt meets take place every year, in absolute secrecy. Rowan Hughes, spokesperson for the Hunt Saboteurs Association, said:
‘The ‘Smokescreen Saturday’ event is a stunt designed to present a façade of lawfulness to the widespread illegal hunting still occurring today in England and Wales.
This day of performance should not trick anyone into believing foxes aren’t deliberately ripped apart every week in hunting season.
While half of the hunting community are putting on this pantomime of trail laying, the other half are demanding protected status so they can be allowed to carry on hunting foxes. They are already part of the most protected demographic in the country, having successfully continued foxhunting for 20 years since it was banned
It’s now up to the government to make the law fit for purpose to protect British wildlife, by fulfilling their election promise and banning the smokescreen of ‘trail hunting.’
Chris Packham has also got involved. He slammed the proposed national meet, saying:
As the degenerate spectre of hunting stumbles towards its pathetic end their desperation becomes farcical. A ‘National Trail Hunting Day’… a sorry attempt to feign legality when we know, they know – everyone knows – it’s nothing more than a smokescreen for murdering wildlife. Because they told us.
If they had a shred more dignity than bloodlust they would all go home and put the kettle on.
Further information on host hunts can be found via this map put together by the Hunt Saboteurs Association.
Featured image via the Canary
