UK Wildlife Protection Groups Call for Conclusive Ban on Fox-Hunting

UK’s wildlife protection groups called on UK authorities to make fox-hunting illegal, according to the statement.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — UK’s wildlife protection groups have urged the government to plug loopholes in its blood sports ban and make this year’s Boxing Day the last for illegal fox hunts, in a statement released Monday.

The Scottish government officially banned fox-hunting with dogs in 2002, followed by the Hunting Ban in England and Wales two years later. Despite this, hunting parties set out to kill foxes on the Boxing Day, claiming this is done to control pest populations.

"The bloodsport lobby claim that they want the hunting ban repealed on the basis of animal welfare grounds, however what we have seen this year and in previous years is that they hold no regard for animal welfare," Eduardo Goncalves of the League Against Cruel Sports said.

Exemptions are made when foxes are flushed out by dogs or killed to protect the livestock and ground nesting birds. Last month’s report by Lord Bonomy on the protect of wild animals in Scotland showed that traditional hunting continued as it did, with exceptions being used as a decoy.

"With every blow of the horn announcing another hunted fox on Scottish soil, the credibility of the Parliament is undermined," OneKind Scotland wrote last Sunday.

August’s Ipsos MORI poll of almost 2,000 British adults showed 84 percent wanted the ban on fox hunting to be upheld despite calls to drop it. The League estimates over 200,000 illegal hunting incidents involving dogs have taken place since 2004, averaging 16,000 a year.