LABOUR GOVERNMENT TO BAN THE SMOKESCREEN OF TRAIL HUNTING

View this email in your browser Hi, Supporter Labour To Ban The Smokescreen Of Trail Hunting Finally, over 20 years since the flawed Hunting Act was introduced, Labour has announced they will stop the charade of trail hunting. The ban is part of an Animal Welfare Strategy that is due to be published today and was a manifesto pledge of the Labour government. “Trail hunting” at the Beaufort just last week. Hunt sabs in the field realised within weeks of the passing of the original Hunting Act that trail hunting was simply a ruse to disguise traditional, illegal hunting. We spent the next fifteen years saving lives in the field and collecting a tsunami of evidence about the true nature of trail hunting. A tsunami of evidence: Coniston Foxhounds dig out a fox - November 2025. However, the decisive moment came in November 2020, when the HSA published leaked webinars from the Hunting Office in which leading figures from the hunting world tutored hunt masters in how to circumvent the law. Masters of Foxhounds Association Director, Mark Hankinson, described creating a smokescreen by pretending to lay a trail: “It’s a lot easier to create a smokescreen if you’ve got more than one trail layer operating and that is what it’s all about, trying to portray to the people watching that you’re going about legitimate business.” Mr Smokescreen himself. Ex-police inspector and Countryside Alliance Police Liaison Officer Phil Davies added: “Now you know more about hunting than the saboteurs or the courts will know but what it will do is create that smokescreen or that element of doubt that we haven’t deliberately hunted a fox, so if nothing else you need to record that and it will help us provide a defence to huntsmen.” Trail hunting is a smokescreen for illegal fox hunting. While Paul Jelley, leading hare hunter and another ex-police officer, suggested that hunts purchase burner phones for the purpose of concealing criminality: “So something for you hunt staff and terriermen, trail layers and everybody to consider, if you’re recording evidence for the Hunting Act, trail laying, whatever, don’t use the same phones or anything you’ve been using for social media and bragging about what you’ve been doing out hunting.” Following the publication of the webinars, trail hunting went into a death spiral: the Hunting Office itself collapsed, major land owners fell over themselves to ban trail hunting, and the Scottish government pre-emptively banned the practice before introducing its own revised Hunting Act. Today’s announcement is the culmination of that process. Environment minister Baroness Hayman of Ullock , who recently spoke at an HSA parliamentary event, commented: “In our manifesto we said we would ban trail hunting, and that’s exactly what we’ll do. There is evidence that trail hunting is being used as a smokescreen for the hunting of wild animals, and that’s not acceptable. We are working out the best approach to take the ban forward and will run a consultation to seek views in the new year.” Baroness Hayman addresses an HSA event in parliament. An HSA spokesperson commented: “We will anticipate a proper ban on trail hunting, which closes the loopholes in the current law and blows away the hunting smokescreen once and for all. We hope that the animal welfare reforms will not only contribute to the end of fox hunting, but also allow England to join Scotland and Wales in banning cruel snare traps. Hunt saboteurs have spent decades working in the fields, and more recently in parliament, to protect all animals harmed by hunting. Over the last twenty years we have learnt that hunters will stop at nothing to pursue their bloodlust - we therefore anticipate that there will be more work to do even when legislation has passed. This season has already seen wildlife chased and killed under the guise of ‘trail hunting’, a loophole that fails to prevent cruelty. A ban is long overdue to end the savage cruelty caused by hunting with hounds. We will wait to see the outcome of the consultation, but it is clear that far stronger measures are urgently needed to protect wildlife.” Join the Hunt Saboteurs Association! Support our vital work by becoming a member. Join The HSA Spread the word! Please share our news Share via email Facebook icon Instagram icon Twitter icon Logo Copyright (C) 2025 Hunt Saboteurs Association. All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from Hunt Saboteurs Association. Our mailing address is: BM HSA, London, WC1N 3XX, U.K. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe