Police are reviewing video taken by anti-hunt campaigners who say an animal was pursued to exhaustion across Somerset then killed when it became trapped
Hunters chased stag for five hours then shot it, claim saboteurs
Will Humphries, Southwest and Countryside Correspondent
Sunday March 29 2026, 9.55pm BST, The TimesShare
Police are reviewing video of a hunt after stags were said to have been chased across Somerset by hounds for five hours before one was shot at close quarters.
Hunt saboteurs said they filmed the Quantock Staghounds in the Quantock Hills on March 16 as they chased stags with horses and hounds from about 1pm until one animal stood “exhausted” and trapped at a fenceline at about 5.45pm.
The stag was shot with a folding shotgun at close quarters after members of the hunt party ran past a saboteur filming on the other side of the fence.
Avon and Somerset police said it received a report on March 18 “regarding alleged hunting offences taking place in the Quantock Hills on Monday, March 16”.
“We are carrying out inquiries and will be reviewing any footage submitted to us,” the force said.
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Mendip Hunt Sabs, one of the groups that filmed the hunt, said: “The killing of this stag was awful to witness at such close quarters. The sad truth is that his fate was the same experienced by many others every week of the hunting season. The Hunting Act is flawed and can’t be enforced.”
The government in consulting on its proposed ban on trail hunting, after anti-hunt campaigners and police leaders said it acted as a “smokescreen” for illegal hunting with dogs.
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The stag was filmed in the Quantock Hills on March 16
Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Matthew Longman, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on hunting with hounds crimes, said that the Hunting Act was not working effectively at preventing illegal hunting and “the simplest reason for the lack of prosecution is that the law needs revisiting”.
It is illegal to use dogs for hunting deer, but a maximum of two dogs may be used for “stalking and flushing out” deer to guns, including using dogs to find wounded deer.
The League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) believes any ban on trail hunting must be accompanied by a strengthening of the Hunting Act 2004 to address the problems of proving intent, lack of deterrent in sentencing guidelines, and to close loopholes to prevent the emergence of other forms of simulated hunting as a cover for illegal hunting.
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The league wants all exemptions listed in Schedule 1 of the Hunting Act to be removed. Their priorities for removal include the “use of dogs below ground to protect birds for shooting”, “falconry”, “research and observation” and “rescue of a wild mammal”.
The “research and observation” exemption is often claimed by stag hunts, and allows hunting in connection with the observation or study of a wild mammal.
The league argues that the value and necessity of conducting research by chasing deer with dogs over miles of countryside is “highly dubious” and only registered deer hunts are known to employ the exemption.
While the exemption restricts the number of dogs used to two, stag hunts typically use pairs of hounds in relay — they are followed by a larger pack of hounds in a vehicle so the two dogs can be replaced when tired.
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The exemption for the “rescue of a wild mammal” has also been used by stag hunts to pursue deer over large distances, claiming they believe that the animal is injured.
Emma Slawinski, the chief executive of LACS, said: “This footage highlights the savage cruelty of deer hunting in which the poor animal is chased for miles to the point of exhaustion, and brutally shot.
“Despite hunting with dogs being banned 21 years ago, three deer hunts in the West Country still pursue their barbaric blood sport, using absurd exemptions in the Hunting Act to get away with their cruelty.
“The time for change is now. The government’s forthcoming consultation to ban trail hunting should have a wide enough scope to remove these exemptions from the Hunting Act and see the introduction of jail sentences to act as an effective deterrent to prevent the hunts from taking place.”
Unlike most wildlife and animal welfare offences, the Hunting Act does not include the possibility of custodial sentences. Instead, an unlimited fine is the highest penalty available.
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Ministry of Justice data shows that the average fine issued for Hunting Act offences in 2024 was just £454, significantly lower than an individual annual subscription for joining a hunt, which cost an average of £2,250 in 2020.
Olly Hughes, managing director of the British Hound Sports Association (BHSA), the governing body, said: “Any breaches of the law are taken very seriously by the BHSA. It is right to allow the police to establish whether any breach has occurred before anyone rushes to judgment.
“The BHSA expects all registered hunts to act within the law and within the well-established regulatory framework in place. It would be inappropriate to comment on the specifics while the police investigation is ongoing.
“More broadly, it is wrong to use an unproven allegation of this kind to push beyond the government’s stated consultation and further a wider ideological campaign against lawful countryside activity.”
Hunters chased stag for five hours then shot it, claim saboteurs