20 years on: The true face of hunting with hounds in 2025

Protect the Wild's report for the 2024/25 hunting season is its most comprehensive yet

Protect the Wild's report for the 2024/25 hunting season is its most comprehensive yet, gathering and analysing even more detailed data than previous years. It also coincides with the 20th anniversary of the enforcement of the Hunting Act. What the former shows is that the latter is still failing to prevent the hunting industry from widespread criminality.

(Thanks to The Independent who today covered the findings of our report)

Hunt criminality is widespread

To create the report, Protect the Wild gathered data from 2294 reports put out by hunt saboteur and monitor groups as well as anti-hunting campaign groups across England and Wales. A further 75 reports by members of the public were also found to provide useful data. In addition to these, Protect the Wild made several freedom of information requests to police forces. Taking all of these into account, reports for 1680 meets were looked at and 1091- or 65% - of these contained a recordable incident.

Some of these meets contained one or two minor issues such as riders blocking traffic on a public right of way or the attendance of police. Others, however, were far more fraught. The worst of these, of course, included the chasing and killing of wildlife or acts of serious violence against activists. One meet by the notorious Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt for example, which took place on 20 January 2025, involved multiple fox chases and the huntsman using his horse to break the toe of a sab.

When it comes to wildlife persecution, although some hunts were more prolific than others, 74 packs across England and Wales were reported to have chased or killed a fox. The figure for hare hunting packs such as Beagles and Bassets was very different due to far fewer of them receiving regular monitoring. Meanwhile, the three remaining registered staghound packs were all seen chasing and killing deer.

What the report highlights is that harmful and criminal behaviour is not relegated to a handful of hunts. Instead, it is a common and widespread practice throughout hunting. Of the 143 hunts observed by activists at some point during the season, and excluding meets where the only recorded incident was police presence, a total of 74 hunts were reported to have committed wildlife persecution and anti-social behaviour. That's 51% of all hunts. If the presence of police is included, that figure shoots up to 141 - nearly every single hunt observed.

Furthermore, these figures are likely only a fraction of the true number. The majority of meet days go unobserved by outsiders. Covert monitoring and internal leaks have shown that hunts are just as if not more likely to hunt wildlife when they're not being held accountable by activists.

These figures are outrageous for an activity that the government outlawed 20 years ago.

Violence and havoc

Alongside wildlife harm and persecution, the impact that hunts have on local communities is often negative as well. Despite regular claims by hunting advocates such as the Countryside Alliance that hunting is a "social glue" for rural Britain, the figures show that hunts bring chaos to the areas they hunt. Our research found nearly 800 reports of road havoc and driving offences during the season, some of which seriously endangered the culprits as well as other road users.

In one example, Plymouth and West Devon Hunt Saboteurs shared footage in February 2025 that showed an Eggesford Hunt galloping at speed on the wrong side of a narrow road to overtake the sab group's vehicle. This course of action would be condemnable if it were another vehicle attempting to overtake; using a horse is just as, if not more, deplorable. Unfortunately, this type of incident is neither rare nor unique.

Protect the Wild also didn't record instances of alleged drink-driving connected to hunt meets due to the difficulty in gaining certain proof. Nonetheless, such reports are widespread and commonplace.

Also commonplace amongst hunts was trespassing, the worrying and chasing of farmed or domestic animals, and badger sett interference. It's nonsense to claim such incidents are innocent mistakes, and when they run into the hundreds, it's impossible to argue they somehow promote social cohesion in rural areas. Instead, it's clear that the hunt and their lobby groups have a monopoly on rural voices, and they use it to protect their grim pastime rather than support or empower their local communities.

Even the two categories of violence in the report don't exclude uninvolved members of the public. Although largely a record of attacks by hunts and their supporters on activists, there were nonetheless numerous cases where hunts were aggressive towards or even attacked members of the public who were otherwise not involved. The most egregious of these was the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt (again) attacking road workers in Dorset. There were, however, several other incidents.

We need a law that's fit for purpose

What the latest season's report shows is that the hunting industry is doing nothing to change its attitude or actions. Whilst the British Hound Sports Authority likes to claim it governs the "highest standards" amongst registered hunts, it has overseen thousands of incidents of wildlife persecution and anti-social behaviour since it came into existence and done very little to discourage or prevent it continuing. Protect the Wild's research for the past three seasons has shown that figures across the board have remained steady.

The 20th season of hunting under the Hunting Act 2004 has shown that current legislation isn't fit for purpose. Hunts continue to harm and kill wildlife, harass local communities, and attack the people attempting to hold them accountable. The government has said it will review the laws around hunting during this parliament. It's imperative, therefore, that any new legislation is actually fit for purpose and will permanently prevent hunts from harming those around them.

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Help us truly end hunting for good

We’re approaching a once-in-a-generation opportunity to end hunting with hounds — and it all comes down to people power. In the coming months, the government will launch a public consultation on hunting for the first time in over 20 years, and we’re preparing for ten intense weeks of national mobilisation: up to 1 million leaflets, a short film on cub hunting, targeted ads, city-wide actions, and giving the public everything they need to speak out.

This will not be won with money — but we do need funds to make it happen. We’re aiming to raise £25,000 to power the campaign, expose the cruelty, and strike the final blow to a bloodsport that has plagued our countryside for centuries. If you can, please chip in. Every pound will help us end hunting — for good.