Hunting Incidents Timeline

This is just a snapshot of some of the incidents involving hunts since the introduction of the Hunting Act 2004.

2003

August - 3000 hunt staff sign a pledge saying they will break the law and continue hunting animals if it is banned

2004

September - Hunting supporters storm Parliament where a debate on a hunting ban is taking place, while others clash with police at a protest outside. 8 people would later be convicted for Public Order Act offences.

September - Hunt supporters dump dead horses and cows on the streets of Brighton, where the Labour party conference was taking place, to protest the proposed hunting ban

2005

February - Hunting Act comes into force, which should have ended the hunting of foxes, hare, deer and mink with hounds.

2006

August - First conviction under the Hunting Act, with Tony Wright, the huntsman of the Exmoor Foxhounds found guilty of illegally hunting a fox. This was later acquitted at appeal, after the court found that 'searching' for a mammal was not hunting and that "hunting could only be an 'intentional' activity"

2009

March - Charges brought against Julian Barnfield of the Heythrop Hunt by the CPS were dropped in response to the earlier High Court ruling in the Tony Wright case. See 2012 for more…

May - Huntsman of the Wick & District Beagles receives a police caution for illegally hunting a hare, the first member of a beagle pack (a type of hunt that hunts hare while on foot) to face any action under the Hunting Act.

2010

November - Richard Down, huntsman of the Quantock Staghounds, becomes the first person to be convicted twice under the Hunting Act.

2012

November - Ledbury Hunt hounds were filmed killing a fox while a laughing hunt supporter watched on. The hunt claimed to a local paper that this happened after they “temporarily lost sight of the pack” and that “on average only a handful of foxes are killed by the hunt accidentally each year.” No further action was taken.

December - Two members of the Heythrop Hunt, Julian Barnfield and Richard Sumner, and the hunt itself as a corporate entity plead guilty to illegally hunting foxes on four occasions in contravention of the Hunting Act. This was the first prosecution of its kind brought by the RSPCA.

2013

November - A case brought against Royal Agricultural College Beagles huntswoman for illegal hunting is withdrawn from court, after she absconds to the USA and fails to turn up. She was filmed chasing hares. She has since returned to the UK and currently hunts with another beagle pack.

2016

May - Covert cameras catch a huntsman taking four young fox cubs into the kennel block of the South Herefordshire Hunt. Baying hounds can be heard before he is seen leaving the block with a dead fox cub and chucking it in a bin. 4 people, including a terrierman and member of another hunt, were found guilty of animal cruelty offences and the hunt subsequently disbanded.

2018

April - Huntsman of the Fitzwilliam Hunt convicted of killing a fox on January 1st 2016. The hunts' defence that they had an eagle present which they intended to use to kill the fox (one of the many loopholes in the current Hunting Act), failed to stand up in court.

2019

January - Terriermen of the Kimblewick Hunt were covertly filmed communicating with the huntsman agreeing when the best time is to release the fox, and then releasing the captive fox to be chased and killed by the hounds at a New Years Day meet. They were later both found guilty of keeping a fox captive and inflicting suffering upon the fox in breach of the Animal Welfare Act.

2020

November - HSA publishes leaked online webinars held by the ‘Hunting Office.’ Hunt staff from across the country attended, as members of hunting’s governing body referred to trail hunting as a ‘smokescreen’ and a ‘jolly good wheeze,’ and admitted that terrier work is hunting’s ‘soft underbelly.’ An ex-police officer also gave advice on not telling the police anything if interviewed over a potential Hunting Act offence.

Major landowners, including the National Trust, Forestry England, Natural Resources Wales and National Parks banned 'trail hunting' on millions of acres of land they own in light of this.

2021

March - Hounds from the Western Hunt in Cornwall caught on CCTV killing a pet cat, Mini, and a hunt member can be seen picking her up and throwing her over a garden fence. The hunt master was later found guilty of having dogs dangerously out of control.

December - East Essex Hunt terrierman, Paul O’Shea, is caught on film by hunt sabs trapping and torturing a fox with a pitch fork at an ‘artificial earth.’ He would later admit charges of hunting a wild mammal with a dog and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.

December - Royal Artillery Hunt kill a fox on MOD land at their Christmas Eve meet. The huntsman admitted this happened, but claimed to be off his horse urinating at the time, so was unable to intervene. No action was taken over this incident.

2022

March - HSA obtains footage of a huntsman and 5 terriermen belonging to the Seavington Hunt pulling a captured fox out of a sack, releasing it in front of hounds, and then hunting it. This would later lead to the huntsman being convicted, but the terriermen never brought to justice. The hunt continues to operate as normal.

December - Ex-huntsman of Quorn Hunt, Ollie Finnegan, plead guilty to Hunting Act offences - the evidence consisted of dozens of WhatsApp messages between him, masters of his hunt and the huntsman of the Ledbury Hunt, talking about hunting foxes, were found on his phone after it was seized by police. Magistrates said they demonstrated a “pattern of offending over a period of time.”

2023

Feb - HSA release footage showing Avon Vale Hunt members throwing/bolting two foxes to hounds. This story hit the TV news headlines and led to the hunt being thrown out of hunting’s governing association. 2 members of the hunt were found guilty in court, but received suspended prison sentences and measly fines of a few hundred £s. Another is awaiting trial at Crown Court.

March - William Hanson, ex huntsman of the Fernie Hunt, was found ‘not guilty’ of illegal hunting, despite agreement in court that the hounds chased a fox (and witnesses that saw this happen through their village), and that the chase started when the huntsman took hounds into a covert known to police as a place where foxes resided. This case highlights the inadequacies of the Hunting Act, as the huntsman was able to claim that he was ‘trail hunting’ and therefore intent could not be proven.

August - Wynnstay Huntsman and whipper-in plead guilty to interference of a badger sett, after they were caught on camera blocking a sett. This practise is widespread ahead of a day of hunting, and is done to stop foxes from seeking shelter underground when being chased.