Scotland has led the way in tightening hunting laws to really ban the so-called sport, and it’s similarly time for change in England and Wales. What the Time for Change Coalition Against Hunting is calling for is for exemptions to the law to be removed and trail hunting to be outlawed. Only by taking these steps will hunting be properly banned in England and Wales.

Hunting with hounds was supposed to have been banned in 2005 with the introduction of the Hunting Act, but the reality is it still happens across England and Wales. Polling consistently tells us the public, many of whom also support a variety of animal and environmental charities, want to see this stop.

The next government has the power to properly ban hunting and by joining as a coalition we can use our collective voice, a voice which represents millions of people in the UK, to urge it to properly end hunting by strengthening the law. 

The Hunting Act has too many exemptions that hunts hide behind, like a smokescreen, to avoid prosecution for illegal hunting. They also use the excuse they are trail hunting – following pre-laid trials of animal urine – but the reality is trails are very rarely laid and they give the excuse of an “accident” if a real wild animal is tracked and killed by the hounds.

Together we are asking for the law to be strengthened to close the loopholes that exist within the legislation. Additionally, we want to see trail hunting outlawed, and hounds trained instead to take part in drag hunting or clean boot hunting, neither of which involve following an animal-based scent. 

There will always be other priorities on any government’s agenda, though we acknowledge that right now there are huge pressures on the government’s time.

However, the hunting act isn’t working, and failing to address it is shining a bright light on how successive governments have failed on animal welfare commitments.

Pledging to fix this law will signal how any future government intends to prioritise the welfare of animals in the future. 

That we have so many diverse organisations in our coalition is telling of the strength of feeling they and the members of the public feel on this issue.

While our core objectives may not be the same across our membership, we are united in our determination to see persecution of our wild mammals ended for good. Together, we will end hunting.  

Together we are a network with a huge reach across many millions of people, and as such a lot of our work will be directed towards Westminster.

We will be asking our legions of supporters to get behind campaigns that will signal to people in power just how important this is to them and how vital this issue will be at the ballot box. To start, we are launching a petition which can be found below.