FOI 612/25 Fox Hunting

Date: 24/06/25

Enquiry Reference:  612- 25                                                             

I write in connection with regards to your Freedom of Information request. Below is your request and our response.

1. A figure for the number of incidents of fox hunting recorded in your force area between 01/08/2024 and 31/04/2025.
2. A figure for the number of times police officers attended an incident or report of fox hunting in your force area between 01/08/2024 and 31/04/2025.
3. If possible, the dates of any incidents and attendances along with any location details (e.g. partial postcode).

To clarify what I mean by the terms used in this request:

 * 'Incidents' - reports of fox hunting made by the public, other agencies or recorded by police officers, whether attended or not.

 * 'Attendances' - occasions where police officers have attended a report of fox hunting whether that be in response to a call from the public or as part of a pre-planned operation / police generated activity.

 * 'Fox hunting' - traditional, organised 'red coat' hunting where horses and / or hounds are used to chase a fox or follow a pre-laid scent trail.

I understand that very few police forces have a recording code or category for fox hunting and that a free text search may be the only way to extract this data from your systems. The following search terms are therefore suggested:

 * 'hunt'

 * 'hunting'

 * 'fox hunting'

 * 'red coat hunting'

 * 'fox hunt'

 * 'hounds'

 * 'trail hunting'

 * 'terrier'

I also understand that data on fox hunting may be held outside of core police systems by Rural Crime Teams or Wildlife Crime Officers and that they may have the requested information already available. I would ask that this request is also passed to them, or any other team within your force who has responsibility for hunting.

If you are able to provide some, but not all, of the data requested, I would be grateful to receive what is available.

Answer

Having made enquiries within the Force below is the information we can provide.

Searches on keywords ‘hunt’ and ‘hunting’ resulted in the below table. However, it is not certain they are an incident for fox hunting or even a hunt (as could be a name of something).

Please note that all statistical data supplied in relation to Freedom of Information requests is a snapshot of data held at the time the request was received by the Freedom of Information office and is subject to constant change/updates.

If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request, you have the right to request an independent internal review of your case under our review procedure. The Freedom of Information Code of Practice (see below link) states that a request for internal review should be made within 20 working days of the date on this response or 40 working days if extenuating circumstances to account for the delay can be evidenced. Public authorities are not obliged to accept internal reviews after this date.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-of-information-code-of-practice

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Decision Maker