Fox hunting was banned in England and Wales seventeen years ago. However, she cannot be killed because of a legal loophole.
After an interruption due to the pandemic, a battue is taking place again in Broadway (Worcestershire).
Killing foxes (and other wild animals) on a driven hunt has been illegal since 2005, but not the hunt itself. This year, horsemen in England and Wales in their traditional red jackets are once again crossing the fields with packs of barking dogs. Only today they follow an artificial scent trail and no longer the fleeing animal. This form of hunting is called “legal trail hunting”, but animal rights activists view it with suspicion. Because when following an artificial scent trail, the dogs repeatedly track down real foxes and then chase them to death. The opponents of the battue are also convinced that “legal trail hunting” only serves to cover up the actual deadly hunt for the foxes.
The hunters claim that there are only very few violations. But animal rights activists cite numerous such cases being reported each season. There have been more than 430 violations since the law came into force. For years, the hunters and the “hunting saboteurs” have been at war and engaged in bitter skirmishes at night and in the fog.
The climax of these disputes usually occurs on Boxing Day every year. Also this year, the “Countryside Alliance”, an association of hunting advocates, said tens of thousands of their active supporters had been on the road to traditional gatherings with around 200 packs of hunting dogs that day. An article in the Times about the participation of various counties in this year’s fox hunt was one of the most read of the day after Christmas.
Dispute between progress and tradition
Basically, the debate isn’t just about blood sports versus leisure pursuits. It is also a dispute between progress and tradition, and of course it touches on English class thinking. Fox hunting is closely associated with the English landed gentry. The “Fox Hunting Act” pushed through by Tony Blair’s government was preceded by a tough seven-year dispute between the House of Commons and the Conservative Lords of the Upper House – until the Speaker of the House of Commons, through the application of the “Parliament Act” of 1949, which has only been used three times so far enforced the implementation of the law.
But not only the controversial driven hunts make life difficult for the fox. It’s not easy for him in the cities either. While the populations of the animals are declining in rural areas, they are so common in big cities that vigilante groups have come together to eliminate them – with guns. Only two weeks ago, the “Sunday Times” put the big city fox under the headline “Enemy of the public?” on the cover of their magazine. The controversial animal in Great Britain is loved by some and hated by others.
nuisance in the cities
A study by the Universities of Brighton and Reading estimated the number of urban foxes at 150,000 in 2017. The presence of the red-haired wild animals in urban areas, which were perceived as a nuisance, was first documented in the 1930s, when the large cities grew more and more. The urban foxes are helped to survive by their adaptability, their “cunning”, which is often immortalized in literature, and the fact that they eat almost anything that people leave behind – from Indian curry to fish and chips, but especially sweets and peanuts.