Fox hunting with hounds has been outlawed since 2005 (Picture: Getty)
A group of fox hunters are campaigning for protection under equality laws, meaning they could not be discriminated against for holding ‘pro-hunting’ views.
Group Hunting Kind says they have been advised that fox hunters could secure legal protection under the UK Equality Act 2010, which also protects minority groups such as the Roma community and LGBTQ+ people.
Fox hunting has been the topic of debate for decades, after the Hunting Act came into effect on February 18, 2005 – outlawing hunting foxes with hounds.
Hunting Kind believes protection under the Equality Act could protect fox hunters from discrimination for holding ‘pro-hunting views’.
It would also, they say, protect hunt fundraising balls and prevent hunters from having their bank accounts closed down.
The barrister which advised the group told them they could get the same status as an ‘ethnic group’, given fox hunters have a long shared history, customs and common ancestors.
Fox hunting has been slammed by protesters for years (Picture: Getty)
Ed Swales, the chair of Hunting Kind, claimed in a video on their website that Prime Minister Keir Starmer would ‘understand’ the legal challenge against banning trail hunting, which was pledged in the Labour Manifesto.
Mr Swales said: ‘Keir Starmer, in his position as prime minister with a legal background, would one hopes understand the detail and the plain fact of the matter that we are a minority ethnic group of British people that hunt.
‘I can tell you for a fact it is not cruel because I take no delights in the suffering of an animal. I am as animal welfare friendly as anyone I have come across, and my hunting compatriots are the same,’ he said.
‘Animal rights unfortunately are coming at it from a very uneducated and anthropomorphic point of view, and they’re blinkered to what we see as rural reality and wildlife management reality.
Fox hunting with hounds is a long practised activity in the UK (Picture: Bettman Archive)
‘And they’re also deaf. They don’t want to listen.’
The Hunting Act was passed in response largely to campaigns from animal rights protesters.
But fox hunting has a long history in the UK, dating back to the 1500s but taking shape into what we know today in the 1700s.
The oldest fox hunt in the country is the Bilsdale Hunt in Yorkshire, which was first established in 1668.
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