Notorious hunt accused of 'rampaging through Scots countryside terrorising foxes with hounds' despite ban

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A notorious fox hunt has been accused of rampaging through the Scots countryside terrorising foxes with a pack of hounds - despite a landmark ban on the blood sport.It's claimed huntsmen pursued foxes with bloodhounds in the Houston area of Renfrewshire last Saturday under cover of an official NatureScot fox control licence.Campaigners said the incident “made an absolute mockery” of Scotland’s new, supposedly watertight ban on fox hunting that came into effect in October 2023.

Activist group the Glasgow Hunt Saboteurs captured footage of what they claimed were “multiple hunting offences” carried out by members of the Lauderdale Hunt - including a pack of dogs chasing a terrified fox over open countryside.Controversially, the new legislation allows for fox control licences to use packs of dogs in “last resort” circumstances such as to protect livestock, but strict animal cruelty guidelines must be followed.

However, critics have long warned this could be yet another loophole for huntsmen to exploit - after an earlier 2002 ban was deemed ineffective.The Record exclusively revealed last year how more than 40 licences had been issued in the first six months of the new ban - but just two of these were monitored for compliance by NatureScot.

Some three quarters of these licences were for packs of dogs of 20 or more. We also told how the infamous Lauderdale Hunt, based in the Scottish Borders, had obtained a licence.Now, we can reveal members of the Lauderdale travelled some 100 miles last weekend to Houston, Renfrewshire - formerly the stomping ground of the notorious Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire Foxhounds hunt which folded last year.