The latest figures released by the Ministry of Justice show 110 people were charged and 56 found guilty of an offence under the Hunting Act 2004 during 2013 — but just 6 people allied to registered hunts have been convicted.
The figures — which exceed the previous high of 92 in 2009 — have been labelled misleading by countryside campaigners.
A Countryside Alliance spokesperson said that “these figures were further evidence that the Hunting Act is flawed, as so many of the cases brought under the Hunting Act do not actually involve hunts and could have been prosecuted under other legislation.”
This news-in-brief was first published in Horse & Hound magazine (17 July, 2014)
