In the proposed Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill "packs of hounds" are exempt from the definition of dogs "being at large in a field or enclosure in which there are relevant livestock" under part 37 Subsection 2 (b).

This means that a member of the publics' dog or dogs would be considered a threat to livestock if they were in a field or enclosure in which there are relevant livestock. However if a hunt with a large pack of out of control hounds (which is often the case) entered a field with livestock and terrified or killed such livestock then they wouldn't be held liable for their actions. In fact the hounds would be deemed as being exempt alongside "a police dog, a guide dog, a trained sheep dog or a working gun dog".

This exemption is yet another way in which the law is designed to protect hunts and is a blatant example of one rule for us and one rule for them.

Our ‘2021 Hunting Havoc Report' logged all of the incidents dating from the beginning of the 2020  hunting season (October 1st 2020) to the 4th January 2021 where the hunting season was postponed. This report revealed how there had been an incident involving hunts terrorising domestic animals or livestock on average every two weeks. This is shocking not only considering the number of incidents in such a short space of time but considering it is highly likely that there are more incidents not reported. It is also worth mentioning that the most recent hunting season took place under unprecedented circumstances and that the number of hunting days would have been considerably lower than in 2019/20.