Anti-hunt campaigners claim foxes in Scotland are still being chased and killed by packs of dogs
SCOTTISH fox hunts have been accused of riding roughshod over the law, with claims that foxes are still being pursued and killed by packs of dogs.
The suggestion comes at the end of a five-year monitoring programme by anti-hunt campaigners, launched amid concerns the legislation cracking down on fox hunting in Scotland was not being fully adhered to.
Supporters of the League Against Cruel Sports say they have witnessed episodes that appear to flout the law, including incidents in the final weeks of this year’s hunting season.
They have now released film footage taken of recent hunts in the Borders that appear to show an exhausted fox pursued by a pack of hounds, a fox being chased out of its hiding place to be killed by hounds, and a dead, apparently disembowelled fox being thrown to the hounds by a huntsman.
Police have confirmed their inquiries are continuing into one of the incidents.
Hunting for foxes with hounds was effectively banned in Scotland in 2002. However, for the purposes of pest control, dogs can still be used for flushing out foxes to be shot. Unlike in England, which limits the number of dogs that can be used to just two, there is no limit to numbers in Scotland.
Anti-bloodsport campaigners claim a lack of clarity in the law has opened the door to the risk of hunts continuing to use packs of dogs, raising concerns that foxhunting with hounds is continuing in all but name.
Police Scotland has also previously suggested the law banning fox hunting north of the Border is unworkable and creates a level of confusion that can deflect from the spirit of the law.
Moves to strengthen the law, which were to be included in forthcoming Scottish Parliament business, have been put on hold as a result of the current health crisis.
Campaigners are now calling for political parties to enshrine a change in foxhunting legislation in their manifestos for next year’s Scottish Parliament elections.
Robbie Marsland, director of the League Against Cruel Sports, Scotland, said: “We believe the law does not work. For the last five years we have been filming Scottish hunts and looking for patterns of behaviour.
“They say they are shooting foxes, but in the first year we didn’t see a single gun. When they knew we were filming them, guns started to appear.”
Countryside Alliance Director Jamie Stewart criticised the campaigners’ methods and insisted hunts in Scotland were abiding by the law.
He said: “Once again the LACS have reverted to the deceitful practice of hiding in bushes and using heavily edited footage to suggest illegal practices in an attempt to deceive the public and to try and influence politicians.”
He added: “Scottish Mounted Fox hound packs operate a legal pest control service to comply with the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002.
“The impact of fox predation on livestock, red-listed, and other vulnerable, groundnesting birds is well documented.”