Chris Packham invites New Forest hunters to chase him to stop foxes being 'torn to pieces'

Hunting club says idea would not 'be practical'

Broadcaster and wildlife expert Chris Packham has offered himself as human quarry in a bid to prevent foxes being “torn to pieces” by hounds.

The Springwatch presenter volunteered to run though Hampshire’s New Forest pursued by dogs and horse riders from his local hunt.

Packham hopes to convince the New Forest Hounds to switch from trail hunting, which involves dogs following an artificial scent, to drag hunting, in which they track a scent laid by a person along a planned route.

“If the New Forest Hounds did that, I would be happy to be their first human quarry,” the naturalist told the Daily Echo newspaper.

The hunting club, which formed in 1781, said his suggestion would not “be practical”.

The Labour government outlawed fox hunting in 2004. Hunts subsequently turned to trail hunting, but critics claim the sport still leads to foxes being killed either accidentally or deliberately.

At least eight foxes were killed in hunts since Boxing Day last week, according to the League Against Cruel Sports, which said the deaths proved hunts “are continuing to slaughter wildlife for their own amusement while shamelessly pretending that they are not”.

A string of incidents in which out-of-control hounds have killed pets and terrorised farm animals have also fuelled calls to ban all hunting with dogs.

Packham spoke out in a video filmed at the New Forest Hounds meet in Linwood on New Year’s Day.

The presenter, who lives in the forest, said: “Unfortunately illegal practices are still going on when it comes to this activity. Animals are still being hunted – torn to pieces – by packs of dogs in the 21st century.

“Foxes are being torn to pieces in front of young families in their gardens, pets are being harmed, farms are being harmed.

“This stuff has got to be consigned to history. There is no place for this savagery in 21st century Britain.”

A New Forest Hounds spokesman suggested it may be “impossible” for the hunt’s dogs to switch to drag hunting.

He said: “We thank Chris Packham for his offer of being hunted by the New Forest Hounds but we don’t think it would be practical.

“We spent a lot of time and effort in getting our hounds to switch to trail hunting. We think it would be even more difficult, perhaps even impossible, to get them to switch to drag hunting.

“It would go against 250 years of breeding.”