The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) has unveiled a new petition and postcard campaign asking the Government to enforce the ban on hunting, and the first postcard returns are arriving at the Home Office now ready for the Boxing Day hunts. Boxing Day remains a keynote date on the hunting calendar, and the 26th December will see hunts up and down the country meeting and parading in public. The HSA, an anti-hunt organisation with over 40 years of campaigning against all forms of bloodsports, believes the hunt ban can and will work but only if the powers that be pull their finger out and enforce it!
Dawn Preston, spokesperson for the HSA, stated ‘Boxing Day hunt meets can of course go ahead, and horses, hounds and hunt staff can meet the public as they traditionally do in market squares and the like. We have no problem with that, and never have done. What we do have a problem with, and indeed this is why the hunt ban was introduced in the first place, is that traditionally the day has culminated in the death of a wild animal. Such cruelty has no place in a modern society, and as such the only legitimate activity that the hunts should be undertaking is the following of a false trail. Keep your red coats, your horses, your hounds and your pomp and ceremony just leave the animal out of the equation. Failing that then the police can and should be intervening and our new campaign aims to not let them forget that.’
She continued ‘We have produced a new campaign postcard with the caption ‘Don’t let the hunters keep hounding out wildlife’, and this will be returned to the Home Secretary. It asks that the law be enforced, as it was brought in for a reason, and that only by enforcing the Hunting Act 2004 can the cruelty be taken out of hunting. We have produced several thousand of these, and we are struggling to keep up with demand. The public obviously are keen to demonstrate that they take a very dim view of the continuing arrogance of the hunts that continue to openly flout the law! Our petition is likewise doing well, and calls on the Government to ensure proper enforcement of the law. Only when drag hunting is the norm will we stop hounding the hunters.’
The government has launched a public consultation on Trail Hunting – this is our chance to stop cruel hunting for good. You can read the HSA’s guidance and take part in the consultation here. The deadline is 18th June 2026 – make sure your voice is heard.
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