Trail hunts face unannounced inspections in ‘standards’ shake-up

‘Hunting needs strong and credible regulation to counter perception they are not operating legitimately’

TRAIL hunts are facing unannounced inspections under new plans to raise standards and rid the countryside sport of its perception of operating illegally.

Scheduled and unscheduled inspections are being carried out by a new body set up to take charge of regulation and disciplinary matters, with hunts facing expulsion or having their licences suspended for bad conduct.

This is the first major restructure of hunting since 2005, when The Hunting

Office was set up to take over the governance, licensing and to provide insurance for all forms of hunting with hounds in England and Wales.

The shake-up follows an urgent evaluation of the way hunting is run when Mark Hankinson, the Masters of Foxhounds director, stepped down last October.

Hankinson was found guilty of encouraging others to illegally hunt foxes using trail hunting as a “smokescreen” during a hunt training webinar in August 2020. Since then hunts have been banned from swathes of the countryside, with farmers and private landowners, such as the National Trust, withdrawing permission for hunts to cross their land, while interference from hunt saboteurs increased to a level unseen since before the Hunting Act 2004. For the past 17 years, hunting a wild mammal with a dog has been illegal unless specifically exempt for reasons of stalking and flushing, falconry and the hunting of rats and rabbits (among others). Instead, packs across England and Wales have been hunting pre-laid trails using a variety of scents.

While prosecutions have been brought under the Hunting Act by the police, RSPCA and League Against Cruel Sports, many have been found not guilty, saying their hounds were trail hunting but picked up the scent of a live fox by accident. Matt Ramsden, master and amateur huntsman of the Duke of Beaufort’s hunt in Gloucestershire, welcomed the changes.

“Although we’ve already been inspected forever and a day, it will be useful for us to have introspection, to see how other people are doing it and how we might do things better,” he said.

The leadership of each hunt, including pre-planning and allocation of responsibilities, will also be inspected, alongside the accommodation, feeding, worming and veterinary routine of the hounds in kennels, as well as staff, hygiene and record-keeping.

Tim Bonner, Countryside Alliance chief executive, said regulation is vital to the survival of hunting with hounds.

He added: “Hunting needs strong and credible regulation to counter the perception that hunts are not always operating legitimately and to reassure landowners, the police and politicians.

“Other sports in the public eye, such as horse and greyhound racing, have had to adapt to maintain public confidence. Hunting must too.”