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Hunting: Foxes

Asked by Neil Duncan-JordanLabourDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled Answered 19 March 2025UIN 35597

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will commission a review into the prevalence of fox hunting across England and Wales.

Answered by Mary Creagh

Defra has no current plans to commission a review into the prevalence of foxhunting. The Hunting Act 2004 makes it an offence to hunt a wild mammal with dogs except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions in the Act. The full details of the Hunting Act 2004 exemptions are available online at: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/37/schedule/1.

Those found guilty under the Act are subject to the full force of the law. Enforcement of the Hunting Act is an operational matter for the police.

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