Number of hunt-related reports made to police in Rutland revealed
Police have received more reports of violence at hunt meets than of wildlife offences.
Fox-hunting was banned 20 years ago but it remains a controversial topic in the countryside and beyond.
Hunts now use the legal methods of a horse rider laying a fox-scented trail, which the hounds follow through the countryside, or the flushing of foxes to a bird of prey.
They are regularly met with opposition from saboteurs, who follow them around the countryside, documenting what goes on and sharing their views on social media.
Tensions between the groups are often high with assault the most common crime connected with hunts in our area, new figures obtained from a Freedom of Information request submitted by LincsOnline have revealed.
In Rutland 23 hunt-related reports were made to Leicestershire Police over a 12-month period from November 1, 2023 to October 31, 2024. The Freedom of Information request did not specify which hunts were involved.
Six related to assaults, one to affray and one to public order causing fear of violence while 13 were recorded as ‘non-crime incidents’.
Two wildlife offences were logged with police.
Of the offences reported seven led to arrests being made and four charges were brought about.
Leicestershire Police was unable to confirm which of the incidents related to hunt participants, supporters or saboteurs or how much police time was taken up by hunt-related activities.
The Cottesmore Hunt in Rutland meets three days a week and is often monitored by saboteurs from North Northants Saboteurs.
In Cambridgeshire during the same time period, one report of an assault relating to the Fitzwilliam Milton Hunt was made to the police.
This involved a hunt participant and a hunt saboteur. Neither were arrested or charged.
Lincolnshire Police refused to answer the Freedom of Information request explaining in its response that the information would take more than 18 hours to retrieve data for the entire county - the amount of time considered appropriate for supplying information under the Freedom of Information Act.
