The West Country has more fox hunting than any other region in England and Wales, despite the ban according to new figures from the League Against Cruel Sports, which recorded 234 foxes being chased by hunts during the most recent season, more than half the national total of 488.

Devon had 36 incidents making it the fourth highest county in England and Wales.

The figures are released as the Government holds a 12-week consultation to ban trail hunting, the discredited excuse used by hunts as a smokescreen to conceal the chasing and killing of foxes.

Emma Slawinski, League Against Cruel Sports chief executive, said: “These startling figures show that the brutal blood sport of fox hunting is still rife in the West Country, despite the ban, and points to the desperate need for new, stronger fox hunting laws.

“The public in the South West have the chance to have their say and to help end fox hunting once and for all by taking part in the government’s consultation to end trail hunting.”

The ‘hunt havoc’ across the West Country includes reports of trespass; other wildlife such as deer being chased; livestock worrying; hounds running amok on railway lines and also on roads causing road traffic accidents – all activities inconsistent with the idea of following a trail, which is what hunts claim to be doing.

Just 23 or 3.7 per cent of the 624 hunt meets monitored across England and Wales contained evidence of a trail being laid.

Within those 23 reports with a trail laid, there was still evidence of 22 foxes being chased.

Polling commissioned by the League Against Cruel Sports and carried out independently by FindOutNow with further analysis by Electoral Calculus in March/April 2024 found that 78 per cent of the public in the South West supported stronger fox hunting laws, with only seven per cent disagreeing.

A clear majority of voters in rural as well as urban areas across the country backed new laws to stop foxes being chased by hounds and killed, with 70 per cent of people in the countryside supporting the proposal.

Jim Barrington, former Executive Director of the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS), cast doubts over the reliability of the League's "reports": “The figures that LACS routinely push have little foundation to them. The statistics cannot be taken at face value since they are compiled from unsubstantiated reports. Decision makers must think very carefully whether allegations made by prejudiced activists should lead to harmful policy changes that hurt rural people.

"If there is any evidence to suggest illegal hunting has taken place, then it should be reported and investigated through the correct channels, not via self-appointed activists with a blatant prejudice.

"Since the Hunting Act came into force 20 years ago, there have been more than 250,000 days of lawful hunting and around 50 convictions of registered hunts. The real facts speak for themselves: the police can and do prosecute when there is evidence of illegal hunting, but the overwhelming majority of hunts do abide by the law.”