Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many licenses his Department has issued to allow trail hunts on the Defence estate in the 2023-24 hunting season; and how many hunts these licenses relate to.
To date Ministry of Defence (MOD) has issued 23 licences for the 2023- 24 trail hunting season.
Name of Hunt | Fixtures taken place |
Licence 1 | 8 |
Licence 2 | 2 |
Licence 3 | 1 |
Licence 4 | 1 |
Licence 5 | 2 |
Licence 6 | 1 |
Licence 7 | 9 |
Licence 8 | 10 |
Licence 9 | 3 |
Licence 10 | 2 |
Licence 11 | 2 |
Licence 12 | 3 |
Licence 13 | 3 |
Licence 14 | 2 |
Licence 15 | 2 |
Licence 16 | 3 |
Licence 17 | 1 |
Licences 18-23 | 0 – Have not held any fixtures |
No legal advice has been sought on the legality or potential risk of illegal activity due to the issue of trail hunting licenses. The MOD only issues licenses for drag and trail hunting, which are exempt activities under the Hunting Act 2004.