LOCAL MP Rachel Gilmour this week backed “safe, legal and responsible” trail hunting after seeing a demonstration arranged by the British Hound Sports Association to mark the second National Day of the sport.

Mrs Gilmour visited a site in her constituency to see how trail hunting can imitate a traditional hunt - and which the sport’s supporters claim, “allows huntsman and other staff to enjoy a centuries-old countryside tradition in a humane and responsible way.”

National Day of Trail Hunting days is the BHSA’s response to the government’s plans to ban trail hunting, which the hunting community claims is vital to rural communities.

According to the BHSA, the sport of trail hunting “is to recreate and mimic a traditional day’s hunting as closely as possible. The most common method of laying the trail is to drag a scent infected sock or cloth along the ground.

“Most packs use an ethically sourced, quarry-based scent which is laid from a horse, quad bike or on foot”.

The BHSA added: “If the hounds pick up the scent of a live quarry, the huntsman and other members of hunt staff stop the hounds as soon as they are made aware that the hounds are no longer following a trail that has been laid.”

Following the demonstration, Mrs Gilmour, said: “Last Friday was the National Day of Trail Hunting, and I was out in a wonderful part of my constituency, experiencing part of the rural way of life.”

Adding: “Safe, legal and responsible trail hunting provides a great financial and mental health benefit to constituents in rural communities.

“At a time where the rural community is under threat from a government with precious little understanding of it, I will always be a steadfast champion of my rural communities and those people who form part of them.”

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