Normalising wildlife crime at Agricultural Shows

Agricultural Shows are key dates in the calendar for pro-hunting advocates

The UK's summer Agricultural Shows are key dates in the calendar for pro-hunting advocates. Hunt groups use the events as a way to normalise their cruel blood sport, with hunt hounds appearing and parading alongside agricultural displays.

Many shows, however, are now keeping hunt involvement very quiet for fear of reputational damage. On top of that, this year both the Portman and the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale (BSV) hunts were asked not to attend the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show in Motcombe because of their persistent flouting of wildlife protection legislation.

Normalising bloodsport

The importance of annual agricultural shows in promoting hunting was emphasised when one 2025 show was disrupted by kennel cough. The pro-hunt advocacy group Countryside Alliance's Facebook feed posted:

“The West of England Hound Show is one of the highlights of the summer hunting calendar and we hope that the hunting community will continue to support the show this year…”

The West of England Hound Show was hosted, as usual, by the Honiton Agricultural Show. The planned activities included beagle, harrier, staghound, mink hound and foxhound classes. Most of these were cancelled due to the kennel cough, but it's clear that the Honiton Agricultural Show remains squarely in support of hunting.

Earlier this year, the Countryside Alliance said that it had been using this Summer's hound and puppy shows as a platform to organise a pro-hunt pushback to Labour's plans to enact a stronger ban on hunting. Hound shows are truly friendly territory for hunts, whereas agricultural shows are broader affairs which feature displays of farmed animals, agricultural equipment and horticulture as well as - for example - rural fire & rescue services. They are a place where hunts try to legitimise their place in rural society. As such, they are an important site of struggle for wildlife defenders.

Thin veil of respectability begins to fall

A hunt participates in the 2023 Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show

Years of campaigning came to fruition this year, when the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show withdrew their invitation to the notorious Blackmore and Sparkford Vale and Portman hunts. Both hunts have been gathering notoriety as well as criminal convictions for a long time. The Portman and BSV totted up a massive six convictions for illegal hunting between them during the last hunting 'season'.

The Gillingham and Shaftesbury Society made the following statement explaining that asking the hunts not to attend was:

"a response to recent legal convictions and our responsibility to maintain the reputation and charitable aims of the show."

The Society's statement is both a testament to steadfast action by campaigners and to the increasing number of successful prosecutions of hunt groups for both wildlife crime and for violent attacks on members of the public.

Increasingly toxic

Fox hunting's increasingly toxic reputation was likely the reason why this year's Vale of Glamorgan Show in Wales chose not to advertise the presence of the Glamorgan Hunt. According to Protect the Wild's Blood Business website:

"Like so many of these ‘country shows’ you can scour the VofG Show website for any mention of hunting and not find any. There is nothing on the Dogs page, on the Showground page, though a cropped image of a red coat on the Guidance for Visitors page hints that the Show regularly hosts the Glamorgan Hunt, allowing them to ‘parade’ their hounds in front of visitors."

Similarly, the organisers of Devon's Christow Show weren't exactly shouting from the rooftops about the presence of the hare hunting Brittania Beagles at their show either.

The Chepstow Show also conveniently forgot to mention that it was showcasing a parade by both the Wollaston Bassetts and the Curre and Llangibby. The event in Chepstow has faced strong local opposition for hosting hunts over many years.

In West Somerset too, the Dunster Show chose not to mention in its online publicity that it would be giving the notorious Devon and Somerset Staghounds, the fox hunting Minehead Harriers, and the hare-hunting Ilminster and West Somerset Beagles the opportunity to parade in front of the public.

Shropshire's Vron Gate Show didn't put anything about hunting in their publicity either. But this didn't stop the Shropshire Hunt (a merger of the North and South Shropshire Hunts) from making an appearance in the parade ground and holding forth on how they apparently don't hunt foxes and just follow a trail (funny, that's not what we've heard).

The fact that these shows feel they need to hide the involvement of hunts demonstrates that the PR spin of the Countryside Alliance and their ilk isn't working. The public is increasingly aware of the facts about hunting and, let's face it, they aren't pretty.

However, letting hunts take part in these shows without clearly informing the public - most of whom are opposed to fox hunting - is a sign of cowardice on the part of the organisers.

If they are afraid that publicising hunt involvement will damage their reputation, then they shouldn't invite them. It's time for these events to stop normalising the violence and cruelty that hunts represent, instead of letting the hunts participate on the quiet.

Didn't get the memo?

A screenshot from the unrepentant Bucks and Berks Show's website

Not all of these agricultural shows got the memo that the involvement of hunts should be kept quiet. The Bucks and Berks Show was still unabashedly promoting blood sports this Summer. The Show announced openly that no less than three hunts had been invited, namely the Kimblewick Hounds, the Bicester and Wadden Hunt, and the hare-hunting Old Berkeley Beagles.

Protect the Wild's Blood Business website's editors wrote:

"On [the show's] website, set next to an image of a hound pack, the Show parrots the lie about how hunts are integral to the “sporting rural community and its social fabric” (as surveys repeatedly confirm, hunts are despised by rural and urban residents in equal numbers)."

Dressing up cruelty as tradition

According to Protect the Wild's Rob Pownall:

"For decades, hunts have used summer agricultural shows as a PR exercise, dressing up cruelty as tradition to recruit new followers. But times are changing. More and more shows are quietly distancing themselves from hunting because they know the public won’t stand for animal abuse being normalised."

As we approach a government consultation on a tighter ban on hunting with hounds, public support for hunting is at an all-time low. It's high time that these shows stopped hosting hunts for good, instead of letting them participate on the downlow.

If you have information about hunt involvement in Agricultural Shows or other events please contact us, and we will add them to our blood business database.

• Read our proposal for a real ban on the hunting of mammals with dogs.