14 January 2024 , 21:56
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After her defeat in the Wagatha Christie trial, Rebekah Vardy took up hunting. But her new hobby has got her into hot water.
On Boxing Day, mum-of-five Rebekah posted a picture of herself on a horse at a hunt.
Despite claiming “no animals were hurt in the process”, Nottingham Hunt Saboteurs said she should publicly distance herself from the hunting group to “repair her damaged reputation”.
Following a backlash from her followers on Instagram, Rebekah, 41, married to England striker Jamie, who plays for Leicester City – known as the Foxes – turned off the comments on the post.
More than 100 similar events took place around the country on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. Among the spectators on The Old Surrey, Burstow and West Kent Hunt’s trail meet was divisive ex-UKIP leader Nigel Farage.
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Traditional hunting involving the chasing and killing of animals, was banned by the Hunting Act 2004 in England and Wales.
After the ban, trail hunting was created with the aim of replicating hunting as closely as possible without the illegal element – the chasing and killing of a live fox. Instead, those on foot or horseback follow a scent along a predetermined route with hounds or beagles.
But trail hunts remain controversial, as hounds can end up following a live animal scent. And campaigners fear some have become a smokescreen for the continued illegal persecution of animals, with hounds trained to find and kill foxes, and so-called terrier men armed with shovels filling up any dens where foxes might escape.
There is no suggestion that the hunts enjoyed by Rebekah Vardy and Nigel Farage were smokescreens.
In 2021, the director of the Masters of Foxhounds Association, Mark Hankinson, was found guilty of encouraging and assisting people to evade the foxhunting ban over comments he made in a webinar. In 2022, his conviction was overturned on appeal.
Following the concern, the National Trust banned trail hunts on their land.
The Hunting Act is not working. The police must have the resources they need to ensure the countryside cannot be trampled over any further.
The next government must act in the interests of the many, not the cruel few.