National Trust members vote to ban trail hunting

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National Trust
Gareth Milner

By Gareth Milner


Published: 30/10/2021

- 14:42

Updated: 30/10/2021

- 16:04

At its annual meeting in Harrogate on Saturday, trust members were asked to vote for or against a resolution to ban it on their land.

National Trust members have voted to ban trail hunting amid fears it is being used as a “smokescreen” for chasing and killing foxes.

Members supported a motion not to allow the activity on trust land, with those who proposed it stating that “overwhelming evidence leads to the conclusion that ‘trail hunting’ is a cover for hunting with dogs”.


A total of 76,816 votes were cast for the motion, with 38,184 votes against and 18,047 abstentions.

The results of the vote are not binding, but the board of trustees is expected to consider the outcome following Saturday’s annual general meeting.

Demonstrators from the League Against Cruel Sports gathered outside Harrogate Convention Centre in North Yorkshire as the event was being held, to show their support for the banning proposal.

The Hunting Act 2004 banned hunting with dogs.

Trail hunting simulates a traditional hunt without foxes being deliberately chased or killed by laying an artificial scent for riders.

In November last year the National Trust and Forestry England suspended licences for trail hunting on their land in response to a police investigation into webinars involving huntsmen discussing the practice.

Saturday’s vote comes just weeks after a prominent huntsman was convicted after giving advice about how to covertly carry out illegal fox hunts.

Director of the Masters of Foxhounds Association Mark Hankinson was found guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court of intentionally encouraging huntsmen to use legal trail hunting as “a sham and a fiction” for the unlawful chasing and killing of animals via two webinars held in August 2020.

The huntsman’s illicit advice was exposed after saboteurs leaked footage to police and the media of the online discussions.

He was ordered to pay £3,500, with the judge concluding that he was “clearly encouraging the mirage of trail laying to act as cover for old fashioned illegal hunting”.

During a short debate on the motion, Polly Portwin, representing the Countryside Alliance, said that organisation believes the trust “should not be discriminating” against anyone who “wishes to partake in a lawful activity”.

Another attendee, who identified himself as Will from Hampshire, referred to the Hankinson conviction and judge’s remarks.

He said: “I think it’s time that the National Trust woke up to the reality of trail hunting.”

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