Fox hunting is illegal in the UK, so the work around is that they lay the scent trail to simulate the fox hunt and then accidentally go off the trail and accidentally end up killing foxes. This is a ruling class hobby so there's no actual enforcement of this ban so often times fox hunters won't even bother with the pretence of following these trails, the trail hunting excuse is just something that is used as part of leveraging the arm of the state against hunt saboteurs.

As for why they're so obsessed with this hyper specific form of animal cruelty:

CW: implied beastiality

They get some sorta sexual pleasure outta it. For example: former prime-minister, Boris Johnson once described the feeling of riding a horse during one of these hunts in an op-ed as "a semi-sexual relation with the horse".

[–] LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins@hexbear.net 11 points 1 day ago

Oh I see, thank you, i was thinking if it's just a simulated hunt and the dogs aren't being abused then banning this is some real busybody shit from people who have nothing better to worry about but yeah if it's just in effect a thinly veiled cover to allow for real fox hunting then yeah fuck them, ban this shit

[–] gasgiant@lemmy.ml 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

There shouldn't be a fox at the end of it. Fox hunting has been banned for ages in the UK. Now it's possible that they do this man made trail to lead to a fox den but that's already illegal.

My guess would be that animal rights are campaigning because of the general cruelty involved in training a large pack of dogs and then having them run all round the countryside disturbing and possibly harming the animals.

[–] 7bicycles@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago

My guess would be that animal rights are campaigning because of the general cruelty involved in training a large pack of dogs and then having them run all round the countryside disturbing and possibly harming the animals.

Ain't this a spin on I BARF my dog due to being opposed to animal cruelty