Despite being banned almost 20 years ago fox hunts are still rife across the British countryside, warn campaigners, who say a loophole in the law is being "exploited".

According to The League Against Cruel Sports, nearly 1,400 incidents, comprising reports of suspected illegal huntingand 870 reports of hunt havoc, were recorded between November 2023 to March 2024. It is a huge increase on the 982 incidents they recorded during the same period the season before.