Trail of Lies
The Hunting Act in England and Wales has an enforcement problem, mainly caused by trail hunting — an activity carried out by organised hunts in England and Wales.
IFAW decided to investigate this issue in depth. Their data and evidence suggests that trail hunting in general is nothing more than a post-hunting ban creation to provide a false alibi against accusations of illegal hunting. It should not be confused with drag hunting or bloodhound hunting, which aim to cause no harm to wild animals.
| Drag hunting | Trail hunting |
|---|---|
| Created in the early 1800s | Created in 2005 |
| Objective is to practice a sport using hounds to search for a scent without the pursuit or killing of wild animals | Objective is to make an activity look as similar as possible to hunting before the ban |
| Long-lasting sport | Considered a temporary activity only undertaken while there is a hunting ban |
| Specific rules created by the MDBA | No written rules |
| Non-animal based scents | Animal-based scents (If any) |
| Hounds trained not to follow live quarry | Hounds still trained to follow live quarry (trained with purported ‘accidents’ and reportedly also with cub hunting) |
| Hounds taken to search for the scent in areas where a live quarry presence is unlikely | Hounds taken to search for the scent in areas where live quarry presence is likely |
| Does not use areas, meets and fields where pre-ban hunting took place | Uses the same areas, meets and fields where pre-ban hunting took place |
| Huntsman and whipper-in always know where the scent was laid | Huntsman and whipper-in deliberately do not know where the scent was laid |
| Focus is on the riders following the hounds, who are encouraged to find the scent quickly | Focus is on the hounds searching for a scent (no matter how long it takes to find) rather than encouraging them to find it at the start so riders can join the pursuit |
| Scent laid only around 20 minutes earlier than casting the hounds to find it | No documented time limit on how much earlier the scent may be laid before casting the hounds to find it |
| No terriermen present and no need for terriermen | Terriermen follow the hunt and still pursue foxes underground |
| Hounds always kept under close control so no ‘accidents’ with chasing a live prey | Hounds left unsupervised for longer periods, which increases likelihood of ‘accidents’ with chasing and/or killing of live prey |
The report ‘Trail of Lies’ is the biggest study to date on trail hunting. It focussed on multiple hunts across England and Wales. It contains more than 200 pages of articles, comments, images and expert opinion. The evidence is based on bibliographical research, testimonies of witnesses and experts, statistical analysis of quantifiable data, analysis of court records and proceedings and audio-visual evidence from the field, covering a period of 10 years.
IFAW’s report removed the cloak of darkness on the subject of trail hunting. It provided critical information unveiling the truth behind a trail of lies and includes recommendations to solve the enforcement problem.
More Information
Read IFAW Trail of Lies (Report) by Jordi Casamitjana