"Our community must remain resilient and adaptable" says Polly Portwin in this article for Horse and Hound, first published on 13 February 2025.
Twenty years ago on 18 February 2005, the Hunting Act came into force, forever changing hunting in England and Wales. For many, it felt as if our way of life had been destroyed. Yet, two decades later, we are still here and still getting a lot of enjoyment from following hounds.
While this anniversary may not be one of celebration, it does offer a chance to reflect on the resilience of the hunting community, which has been able to adapt and survive despite an illogical and illiberal piece of legislation.
The process that led to the passing of the Hunting Act was long and complex. It involved numerous government inquiries, parliamentary hearings, private members’ bills, and over 700 hours of parliamentary debate.
Despite this extensive political effort, the Act has failed to meet its primary goal: to improve animal welfare. The government’s own inquiry found no evidence to suggest that hunting was any less humane than alternative methods of wildlife management.
Politically, the Hunting Act has had unintended consequences and has not achieved its intended purpose of eradicating hunting.
None of this has come as a surprise and while we may currently be in a political battle to protect trail hunting, the Countryside Alliance’s primary goal is to fight off that threat and secure the infrastructure of hunting so that we can return to making the case for the use of packs of hounds in wildlife management.
Over the past 20 years, the hunting community has demonstrated remarkable resilience, proving wrong those who predicted the end of our hunts and hunting. The animal rights extremists who championed the Hunting Act, believed it would signal the demise of packs of hounds, yet trail hunting and exempt hunting continue. Hunts still meet on more than 10,000 days per season.
The Alliance has commissioned polls of public opinion on hunting and rural issues for over two decades and we know that the world has changed dramatically over that period.
Our polling constantly proves that hunting is at the bottom of the list of voters’ priorities. It is completely irrelevant in comparison to matters such as the NHS and education, but also to less fundamental issues like HS2 and solar farms.
Yet hunting remains stubbornly on the political agenda and we cannot overlook the fact that politicians have been persuaded that the Act needs tightening.
The Alliance has made it clear that new legislation is both unjustified and unnecessary and we will continue to argue that any move to ban legal trail hunting directly contradicts what the previous Labour government stated when it passed the Hunting Act in 2004.
However, we now have a government in power which has a manifesto commitment to “ban trail hunting.” This obviously raises significant concerns for the future of our hunts, hounds, jobs and homes for hunt staff and our community, as it threatens to further restrict our activities - but all is not lost.
It is within our powers to ensure we can watch hounds crossing the countryside for the next 20 years, but the hunting community has to work harder than ever.
Continuing to work in conjunction with the British Hound Sports Association and with the Countryside Alliance, hunts can reassure the public, media, police and politicians that trail hunting activities are being conducted legitimately and that there is no need to enforce further restrictive legislation.
For more than 20 years the hunting community has worked within the law whilst respecting hunting’s heritage and maintaining the infrastructure of our hunts, preserving our wonderful packs of hounds and enabling those who weren’t even born when the Act came into force to share our passion for following hounds.
While challenging times may lie ahead, as the current guardians of our exceptional packs of hounds, we must step up to the task and ensure that future Peterborough champions can continue to be bred for the next generation to follow.