Lake District hunts served with Community Protection Warnings

Cumbria Constabulary has sent Community Protection Warnings (CPWs) to two Cumbria hunts, after receiving complaints from the public.

We asked Cumbria Constabulary about the contents of the CPWs. They told us that:

The Community Protection Warning informed the [hunt] groups that we have received numerous reports regarding issues relating to them, including antisocial behaviour, noise nuisance and the detrimental impact on the community.

It is a formal warning which, if not heeded, could result in further action, including via prosecution.

CPWs are issued under the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014, and have often been used against hunts. Hunts and hunters can be prosecuted if they don't follow the warning, and are found in breach of a subsequent Community Protection Notice (see below).

However, as Protect the Wild has previously shown, the practical effects of CPWs are variable to say the least.

A history of abuse

Both the Melbreak and Blencathra Hunts have a history of abusing wildlife, and ignoring wildlife protection legislation. In October 2024, Cumbria and Lake District Hunt Saboteurs filmed Blencathra's hounds damaging a badger sett, while they were pursuing a fox. The hounds were trying to dig out a sett, where a fox had taken refuge:

Badger setts are protected under the 1992 Protection of Badgers Act, as badgers are an endangered species. On the day, hunt saboteurs spoke to Blencathra Chief Whip Kenny Stuart and asked him to to stop the hounds interfering with a badger sett, but to no avail. Huntsman Barry Todhunter was also reportedly seen beating the hounds with a stick later that day.

Lake District Hunt Saboteurs has gathered three reports of foxes being chased by the Blencathra Hunt since the start of this hunting season. Chasing foxes is prohibited by the 2004 Hunting Act.

In fact, the Blencathra Hunt openly admitted to the Lake District National Park Authority that they had killed foxes at 9% of their meets between 2012 and 2019. They used the dubious excuse that the deaths were accidental, as the foxes had “jumped up” or got into the path of the hounds of their own accord. This admission clearly suggests that Blencathra Hunt is going out with the intention of killing foxes, under a thin guise of trail hunting.

In addition, Lake District Hunt Saboteurs reported three instances of the Blencathra Hunt trespassing, twice on Cumbria Wildlife Trust land and once on land owned by the Lake District National Park Authority.

Melbreak Hunt have also been seen chasing a fox this season, and Lake District Hunt Saboteurs reported eight instances of trespass, including on Forestry England and National Trust land as well as into private residential gardens.

Ignoring requests from local landowners

In fact, the Melbreak Hunt has a proven history of ignoring requests not to trespass on land. On 12 June 2023 Melbreak Huntmaster Christopher Nixon was convicted of assault on Lake District landowner Darren Ward. Nixon assaulted Ward in early January 2023, after Ward asked him to stop hunting on his land, something he and other Lake District landowners had repeatedly asked him not to do.

The short video below does not show the actual assault, but does show aggression and swearing:

Nixon was fined £945 for the assault on Ward.

The problem of hunts trespassing has been so severe that a group called Landowners Against Hunting With Dogs has been set up, to prevent the hunts carrying out blood sports on private Lake District lands.

Complaints ignored for years

Tony Locke, of Cumbria Hunt Watch told local journalists from the Cumbria Crack that his group and others have been making complaints about the Melbreak and Blencathra hunts for years, and have been either ignored or not taken seriously. Locke said he was pleased to see that the police have now taken steps against the hunts, but that “we will have to wait and see" whether the CPWs are followed up.

“We would encourage anyone witnessing what they believe to be illegal hunting or being subject to unacceptable behaviour or trespass by a hunt to contact Cumbria police immediately to report the incident," said Locke.

What are Community Protection Warnings? And how effective are they?

But are the police warnings given to the Blencathra and Melbreak hunts likely to be effective? CPWs are just the first step in the process of issuing a Community Protection Notice (CPN). CPWs outline behaviour that an individual, business or organisation is required to take, or refrain from. The police say that CPWs are an opportunity for behaviour to be modified "without any formal sanctions being taken".

The next step that the police can take is issuing a CPN, which has more teeth in terms of formal sanctions available. If the recipient is found in breach of a CPN, they can be prosecuted, issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice. Courts can also compel those found in breach of a CPN to surrender possession of any item used in the failure to comply with the Notice.

So the Melbreak and Blencathra Hunts are just at the start of this process, and are not at risk of action being taken unless the police decide to issue them with a CPN and they are found to be in breach. In order to move to the next stage and actually issue a CPN, police will need to receive evidence that the CPW has not been heeded, which means receiving more complaints from local people. They will also need to be ready and willing to issue the CPNs, and to enforce them. This is by no means always the case, not least because the links between police and local hunts are often close. Protect the Wild's Eliza Egret pointed out that, in August 2023, Warwickshire Police's pro-hunt bias prevented the enforcement of a CPN against the Warwickshire Hunt.

Egret explained that what really needs to happen is a change in the law. She wrote:

It is obvious that if hunting legislation was effective, CPWs and CPNs would not be needed to police hunts. In its manifesto, Labour promised that it would strengthen the Hunting Act, getting rid of loopholes that are currently being exploited. The widespread issuance of CPWs and CPNs on hunts should be yet another reminder to politicians that hunts are out of control and need to be stopped once and for all.

DEFRA restates its commitment to a ban on trail hunting

In a statement to the Press Association last month, a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) spokesperson confirmed that the government was "committed to a ban on trail hunting", commenting that the practice "is being exploited as a smokescreen to cruelly kill foxes and hares".

We can see from the activities of the Melbreak and Blencathra Hunts that the current loopholes are being used to harm not just foxes and hares but, as the video above shows, badgers too. Its high-time that the government keeps its promises to outlaw trail hunting.