Trail hunters aka ‘fox hunters’ cry over upcoming ban

GB News aired on Boxing Day segment featuring a trail hunter begging for empathy ahead of a potential ban on the cruel practice of fox hunting.

The issue, as many have pointed out, is that ‘trail hunting’ is fox hunting in disguise — a convenient rebrand.

'I'm in serious trouble if it comes in. It's my entire life.'

GB News reporter Will Godley is live in Chipping Norton with trail hunter Amy Aldworth, who says a potential ban on trail hunting is 'her life' and describes the 'devastation' it would cause as 'heartbreaking.' pic.twitter.com/sDrGubw2ET

— GB News (@GBNEWS) December 26, 2025

A ‘savage’ course of action

Introduced in 2004 after a government ban on fox hunting, trail hunting is hardly a creative work-around. A scent trail is set along a predetermined route to prevent dogs from chasing wild animals. This smokescreen as allowed the illegal practice to continue under a different name…perhaps not for much longer.

We covered this issue earlier this year, highlighting up to 1,600 illegal incidents recorded in 2025 under the guise of ‘trail hunting’.

As a result, Keir Starmer has announced a public consultation on a potential ban on trail hunting to adhere to new animal welfare measures.

GB News asked trail hunter, Amy Aldworth, and her grandfather, about the impact of a potential ban:

I’m in serious trouble if it comes in. It’s my entire life, my business. I employ six people. They’re all gonna be redundant. I’ve got 26 horses in my care, all trail hunting horses. And I do not know what I’m gonna do with them. It makes me feel sick to think that I’m gonna have to turf horses out, turf people out. The devastation it’s gonna cause for working people in the countryside is just heart-breaking. It really, really is.

You don’t trail hunt

You go out there to rip uk wildlife up into shreds

Nobody is for this apart from the blood lust brigade

— Workers United 🌍 (@Stocksnshares9) December 26, 2025

pic.twitter.com/9Zsyhz4nDx

— loulou66 (@loulauder) December 27, 2025

Aldworth’s grandfather Glyn said:

It’s the lifeblood of the countryside. Hunting, farming, two most important things. It would just be devastation. It affects so many people for absolutely no good reason. We’ve been adapted to this trail hunting. We’re going well. We’ve got used to it now. And it would be just savage. It would be savage if the government were to take this course.

Others have also been quick to point out where the real savagery lies:

This is Richard Smith of the South Durham Hunt and he thinks it’s ok to hit a horse over the head. Make this ‘man’ famous.

Filmed by North East Hunt Monitors on 08/11/25 pic.twitter.com/zGVPTqapmU

— Protect the Wild (@ProtectTheWild_) November 13, 2025

And as people have pointed out, fox hunting is about as unpopular in the countryside as it is everywhere else:

Supporters of fox/trail hunting often claim that the ban is an attack on the countryside supported only by people in cities, but polling also shows this to be completely untrue. There is almost no difference in the opposition to hunting with dogs and for fun between communities. https://t.co/5Ifyutrw4S pic.twitter.com/PhA7Q8rVjo

— cez (@cezthesocialist) December 28, 2025

The main complaints I have received about hunting are from people in rural areas sick of pets being killed, gardens wrecked and kids terrified as horses chase a fox down their street. I've also heard from villagers of hounds being left to drown in rivers. #EndTrailHunting https://t.co/VTTfmRb3SS

— Sean Woodcock MP (@SEANLWOODCOCK) December 28, 2025

‘Hoodwinking’ attempts called out

Others have spoken out online about the impact on daily life and freedoms for locals during trail hunts.

Just your average stranger hired by the hunt, telling someone to go back indoors as they can't walk on the public footpath while the trail hunt is going through the village. https://t.co/PoLopA08T8 pic.twitter.com/RpwiSBvOZG

— Ian Simpson (@ISimpson73) December 27, 2025

I grew up in a village in Wiltshire. I remember people doing this as a child…it was scary. I also remember my neighbour's cat getting torn to pieces by the hounds.

It needs to end right now.

— Luna Bella 🗿 🐑 🍪 🐼 77th brigade (@LunaBella128) December 28, 2025

The real working class wouldn’t be welcome

Another X user highlights the class issue surrounding trail hunts and who isn’t fit to take part:

Where we lived in Shropshire they refused to repair damage caused by the hint. Some smallholders refused access. And a cleaner friend with a horse wanted to join but wasn’t from the right class.

— Disenchanted (@disnenchanted) December 28, 2025

You can still ride to your heart’s content

It would be interesting to know if the same people took issue with Thatcher when she closed down mines and factories, leaving workers scrambling for employment. All that’s being asked of the rich is to stop butchering animals. It’s not exactly a big ask.

Others have also noted that nothing is being done to prevent keeping, riding and training horses, with the glorious English countryside still available to them:

'Trail hunter Amy' 🤣🤣 Absolute BS reporting. She can still go out riding her horse- nothing stopping her there. People manage to do that up and down the country without the need to terrorise and kill wildlife! 🎻

— Kernow Hunt Sabs (@KernowSabs) December 26, 2025

Some countryside campaigners have defended the continuation of trail hunting, arguing that a prohibition would lead to foxhounds being put down.

On a related note, foxhounds should never have been bred in the first place, given the ban on fox hunting.

“If you ban trail hunting, we’ll kill all our dogs” is not an argument I thought I’d see put forward today https://t.co/ieH1IFZHNc

— Mitch (@milchhhh) December 23, 2025

Yes, it’s incredibly sad that so many dogs have been trained to kill and might have to be destroyed as a result. However, one X user points out that the ‘sport’ is already killing these dogs before they pass the age of six:

Is she equally devastated when they put their dogs to sleep aged 4-6 (they could live to be 12) when they aren’t useful for trail hunting any longer?

— Lee Hurst (@LeeHurstComic) December 26, 2025

Therefore, ending trial hunting will simultaneously end the animal cruelty we see.

The greater good must win out

Cruel, barbaric practices are part of history, but many traditions have been abandoned in the pursuit of humanity and civility, as we better understand their broader impacts. Trail hunting is simply the latest of these, and its overhaul is long overdue.

As another X account points out, cruel practices can often lead to cruel people:

pic.twitter.com/0Dy04KyK4r

— MamaSu down south (@SueDodd91147295) December 28, 2025

In an ironic twist, trail hunters are appealing to workers who have long been expected to adapt as and when the government of the day expects — urging them to defend this cruel practice.

And if you’re upset about a ban on tearing wildlife apart, the problem isn’t the ban — it’s your inclinations are.

Featured image via Ban Blood Sports