Chris Packham, Megan McCubbin and campaign group Protect the Wild disrupt the historic Cottesmore Hunt, accusing the group of illegal fox hunting. 

In a 2-hour livestream to over 30,000 people, Peckham joined Northants Saboteurs on 28th December accusing the Cottesmore Hunt of illegally hunting foxes, rather than the trail hunt they claim. 

The Cottesmore Hunt is a historic group that has become extremely controversial in recent years, accused of alleged illegal fox hunting, abusing hunt saboteurs and creating a danger on roads. 

According to the Cottesmore Hunt website, "From 1666 to 2005, the Cottesmore had hunted foxes with hounds in and around the ancient English county of Rutland. 

"The government ban [on fox hunting] in February 2005 led to some changes in the way hounds are permitted to hunt while remaining within the law, but although second-best to traditional fox hunting, excellent sport is still possible using a combination of laid trails and flushing to a bird of prey for the bird itself to then hunt." 

The livestream showed horses and hounds caused choas on country roads (Photo: Protect the Wild)

However, campaigners Chris Packham and Meg McCubbin, along with Protect the Wild, have accused the Cottesmore Hunt of illegally hunting and killing foxes. 

In the livestream, Packham said: "Here are people riding out with a pack of hounds to hopefully, from their perspective, tear a fox to pieces for fun." 

Packham then went on to quote data from Protect the Wild that stated 46% of registered 'trail hunts,' where hounds are following a scent rather than a real animal, were caught chasing of killing foxes in 2022-2023. 

Photo taken by Northants Hunt Saboteurs on 16 November 2024 showing a hound on the Cottesmore Hunt chasing a fox (Photo: Nortants Sabs)

During the hunt, Packham watched as the hunt emerged from a section of dense woodland that was thick with brambles. He said: "the hounds came through the centre of that with the horses. That would have meant that a human this morning would have had to have got up first thing and gone through the middle of that copse, laying a trail for it to be justified as trail hunting. Do you honestly think that anyone did that?" 

McCubbin then responded saying "There's absolutely no way anyone did that." 

Peckham and McCubbin work regularly with local saboteur groups to disrupt hunts, with Peckham using his large following to spread awareness for these campaigns. 

In a statement on their Facebook page, The Cottesmore Hunt responded to Packham's live stream saying: "For anyone who watched the livestream, you will have seen that we were involved indeed in trail hunting and that Mr Packham and his team did not see any wrongdoing.

"Two Masters were shown leaving the meet early to continue to lay trails during the day in addition to those laid earlier in the day."

Packham and his team continue to back their claims that the hunt was done illegally.