Animal welfare campaigners take to Peterborough streets to call-out ‘rebranded’ Festival of Hounds event at Showground

Members of an animal welfare campaign group toured Peterborough last week in a bid to raise awareness of issues surrounding ongoing illegal fox hunting.

The League Against Cruel Sports spent July 17 visiting city landmarks with a mobile digital advertising billboard, which showed a film highlighting the brutality of fox hunting.

Along with the Cathedral, St John’s Church and Cathedral Square, the organisation also took its billboard and mascot (League Fox) to the East of England Showground, where the Festival of Hounds – formerly known as the Festival of Hunting – was taking place.

Emma Judd, the League’s head of campaigns, believes that, while name of the festival has changed, the focus of the event (which incorporates the historic Peterborough Royal Foxhound Show) remains much the same:

“Rebranding the event as the Festival of Hounds is simply a tawdry PR exercise designed to put a respectable face on animal cruelty,” she said.

The League’s film relayed the sounds of hounds closing in on a fox in the hope it would highlight the scale of cruelty to wildlife, and to the hounds that were being celebrated at the festival.

Emma believes people need to more aware of the fact it is often the hounds themselves that end up suffering.

“Every season the League receives hundreds of reports relating to suspected illegal hunting, as well as reports of hounds being killed and injured during this so-called sport.”

Emma insisted it is “time for change.”

“Nearly 20 years after the original fox hunting ban, we are calling on the Peterborough public to sign our petition and support our campaign to strengthen hunting laws so this sport is properly banned for good.”

Supporters of the Festival of Hounds described the event as “a wonderful celebration of rural life which draws in thousands of people, including many families, from across the UK every year.”

Organisers maintain the aim of the event is to showcase various packs of hounds and celebrate hundreds of years of pedigrees, and to celebrate equestrian activity, which includes inter-hunt relays.

A spokesman for the Countryside Alliance said: “The Festival brings with it huge support for local businesses, including hospitality [and] we look forward to returning again next year.”