Hunting with Dogs

The USPCA has joined forces with the League Against Cruel Sports.  Our 'Together' campaign is focussed on helping to bring this barbaric activity to an end.

Northern Ireland remains the only part of the UK where hunting with dogs remains legal. England, Wales and Scotland already have bans in place and Northern Ireland is lagging behind.

According to a recent opinion poll conducted in February 2024, almost half of people in Northern Ireland think hunting with dogs is already banned. When they realise that it isn’t, between seven and eight out of ten people say it should be.  This increases to 87% when it comes to hunting deer for sport. It is clear, the public wants to protect nature, not attack it.

Hunting dogs will kill any companion animals they come across and hunt members simply shrug off these incidents as ‘collateral casualties’. Tame deer are ‘carted’ into the countryside and released to be persecuted by dogs, an activity that is already illegal.

The farming community is surviving in economically challenging times; disease control in animals and crops is a priority. Many farmers, acutely aware of the need for bio-security, are less than happy at the hunt crossing their land and have banned them from their land.

The arguments against a ban are based on it being a countryside tradition and pest control. These are flimsy covers to disguise the cruelty of this activity.  There is a small section of our community who enjoy hunting and killing wild animals with dogs, as a source of entertainment.  Its legality also provides a cover for those engaged in the illegal killing of badgers, euphemistically known as badger baiting.

There are two types of hunting with dogs:

1.        The ‘red coats’ on horseback with their hound

2.        The ‘terrier men’, people (mainly men) on foot with their terrier type dogs who hunt foxes and other wildlife.

We want to see both types of hunts banned in Northern Ireland. 

In January 2023, Scotland enhanced their legislation to close loopholes to bring this cruel act to an end. We have an opportunity to learn from Scotland and develop the most robust legislation that leads the way to bringing this barbaric act to an end. This legislation offers a blueprint for legislation to be introduced to Northern Ireland to ban hunting with dogs.

Add your voice to call for a ban on hunting with dogs, sign our petition below: