Claire Bellamy, 51, veteran huntswoman for the Lauderdale Hunt, became the first fox hunter convicted under Scotland’s new hunting laws, following a case in which footage captured by Glasgow Hunt Saboteurs exposed illegal hunting taking place beyond the boundaries of licensed operation.
On Monday, 5 October 2026, Bellamy, the former master and huntsman was found guilty at Paisley Sheriff Court of deliberately hunting a fox with dogs during an outing at Kirkton Wood, between Houston and Kilmacolm in January, 2025.
The hunt had been granted a licence by NatureScot, allowing dogs to be used under controlled circumstances. But the footage, which was played to the court, showed the hounds pursuing a fox outside the area covered by that licence.
Under the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act 2023, NatureScot can licence more than two dogs to search for, stalk or flush a fox from cover, where this is necessary to prevent serious damage and where an alternative control is not available – it is not a licence to hunt foxes in any traditional sense.
Dogs can be used to search for and flush a fox from cover, but the dogs must remain under control. The fox can be flushed towards waiting guns and shot as soon as possible. The hounds are not allowed to pursue or kill the fox.
Licences are also geographically restricted, specifying exactly where the activity is permitted to take place.
So, the legal model is that dogs can enter the cover, flush the fox, and the waiting guns shoot the fox. What is not allowed is that dogs find the fox, and then pursue the fox across the country.
Sabs warned when the new legislation was introduced that licensing created a loophole, through which traditional fox hunting could continue under the guise of wildlife management and Bellamy’s conviction shows those warnings were well founded.
The footage was filmed by hunt saboteurs and shown in court. It shows the hunt spread out across the countryside with hounds moving over open ground along the edge of the woodland.
Bellamy argued that the hounds had got away from her and that she was attempting to regain control. However, the terms of the licence state that the dogs must be under control, but more importantly, the court rejected that this was an accidental loss of control.
After viewing the footage, Sheriff Sukhwinder Gill found Bellamy guilty of deliberately hunting a fox with dogs outside the area in which the licensed activity was permitted.
The old “whoopsie my dogs were out of control” is not a defence under the Scottish Hunting Act.
Bellamy’s conviction vindicates sabs concerns that hunts would turn the licences into loopholes to continue with traditional fox hunting.
Naturally, Bellamy was not operating in isolation; behind her stands an organised network of dedicated wildlife killers, eagerly searching for any loophole to carry on traditional fox hunting just as they always have.
In 2023, following the passing of the new Scottish hunting laws, another hunt – the Lanarkshire & Renfrewshire announced that it was folding after 252 years.
At their final meet, the hunt gave thanks to riders and supporters who had followed the hunt, and to the farms and landowners who had allowed them to cross their land over the years.
The foxhound pack was disbanded, with the hunt saying that the hounds would be rehomed. But the organisation itself did not disappear. Instead, it announced that it would continue to operate as a ‘hunt club’.
A hunt club can maintain the social network of riders and hunt supporters, organise events such as Point-2-Points, and preserve the relationships with landowners and farmers within the countryside where the hunt previously operated.
It was on the former Lanarkshire & Renfrewshire country that Bellamy and the Lauderdale hounds were operating on the day of the illegal hunt.
Bellamy’s conviction is important not just because she is the first fox hunter to be convicted under the new Act, but because it demonstrates that licensing hunts has not prevented illegal hunting from taking place, and without observers on the ground, what happens during a hunt, would rarely ever make a courtroom.
As the government is currently considering a new law for hunting in England and Wales, Bellamy’s case serves as a warning about how exemptions or permitted hunting activities work in practice.
Given the opportunity, hunts will sniff out a loophole or opportunity to hunt foxes from a thousand paces. The government must ensure, this time, a ban means a ban.
A spokesperson for Glasgow Hunt Saboteurs said:
“We welcome the outcome of this case, particularly as it is the first of its kind under the new Scottish law. The blatant illegal hunting and sheer audacity of those involved shows what we are up against. Those who want to kill wildlife clearly believe they are above the law. Not this time.
With more of Scotland’s hunting community due in court over the coming months, we will continue to be out there in all weathers, working tirelessly until the day comes when fox hunting is cleansed entirely from Scotland’s beautiful countryside.”
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