Thread by @MetroUK

Boxing Day is a traditional hunting day for many, and trail hunts still take place across the UK.

A new campaign from @Keeptheban_ is aiming to ban the practice across the UK.

🧵

trib.al/SPGquNv

Fox hunting was outlawed in 2004 but new ‘trail hunts’ have emerged, where dogs and horses chase the scent of a fox, rather than the animal itself.

The Countryside Alliance has supported trial hunts and insists that the hunts count as a ‘legal activity.’

During trail hunts, dogs can often mistake the fox scent for the real thing and attack it, campaigners say this is a common occurrence.

Chris Packham, the wildlife advocate, supports the new campaign and says: ‘Of course, the hunt may claim it’s “accidental”, but they know it will happen, and with the smokescreen of trail hunting behind them, they know they can get away with a real kill.’

When preparing for a trail hunt, terriermen are hired to block up fox holes and badger sets prior to hunts and to flush foxes out from underground using smaller breeds of dogs, campaigners claim.

Mark Hankinson, the Masters of Foxhounds Association’s director recently was caught saying:

‘If you haven’t laid a trail you won’t be covered by insurance… Don’t forget it’s a much more serious offence to commit perjury in court than commit offenses under the Hunting Act.’

Hankinson, 60, was found guilty of encouraging or assisting others to commit an offence in October this year and was ordered to pay £3,500.

The National Trust banned trail hunting on its land in November, following the lead of Natural Resources Wales – one of the country’s biggest landowners.

We spoke to Keep the Ban founder, Robert Pownall about the effect the ban had on activity.

‘It’s really helped open the eyes of major landowners to what’s actually going on.’

Keep the Ban has released an animated video to launch a new campaign to ban trail hunt licenses permanently, a petition in support has gained 89,000 signatures so far.

A spokesperson for the Countryside Alliance said ‘Anti-hunt fanatics have spent years making ridiculous claims about hunting which they often use to raise money.’

To read more about trail hunting and the campaign to stop it, click the link below 👇

trib.al/SPGquNv