A woman has been convicted of illegal fox hunting in Scotland after footage captured the hunt in a Scottish woodland. Claire Bellamy, 51, was found guilty of deliberately hunting a wild animal using a pack of dogs, in breach of the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act 2023.
Hunting outside licensed areas
Bellamy, the former huntswoman of the Scottish Borders-based Lauderdale Hunt, was hunting in Kirkton Wood, between the villages of Houston, Renfrewshire, and Kilmacolm, Inverclyde. She denied any wrongdoing and went on trial at Paisley Sheriff Court.
The court heard that a legal hunt was taking place that day after a licence had been granted from NatureScot, the Scottish Government body responsible for all aspects of nature, wildlife management and landscape. However, anti-fox hunting campaigners, known as Hunt Saboteurs, attended and filmed part of the hunt on January 4, 2025.
Video shown in court
The video showed that fox hunting had taken place outwith the designated areas specified in the hunt licence, making the hunt illegal. The footage was shown in court, with a fox seen running and screaming on camera, as the Saboteurs shouted for the dogs to be "called off".
Bellamy claimed that she had been trying to regain control of the hounds and bring them back to her after they ran off into an area they were not supposed to hunt in. The Saboteurs claimed Bellamy had been encouraging them to continue hunting in the off-limits areas.
Conviction and sentencing
As she convicted Bellamy, Sheriff Sukhwinder Gill said: "You are a very experienced lady and have carried out at least 1500 hunts in Scotland. In my view, you did deliberately hunt a wild animal using dogs and I convict you of the charge as libelled. Given the nature of the charge, and the evidence I heard, in particular the gut wrenching video I saw, particularly the last minute, what I saw, and the screaming I heard, with what the dogs were potentially going to do with the foxes, I'm going to call for background reports. All options are open to the court."
Bellamy, who is also a shepherdess, of the village of Longformacus, in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders, could now be jailed for up to 12 months, or fined up to £40,000. She will learn her fate when she returns to the dock next month.
Robbie Marsland, Director of the League Against Cruel Sports Scotland and Northern Ireland, was at court for the trial. Speaking after she was convicted, he said: "We warned that hunts would try to use licences as a loophole to carry on chasing foxes with packs of dogs, and this conviction proves it. The League welcomes the conviction, but this crime only came to light because someone happened to be standing in the right field at the right time with a camera.
"An important law is being let down by weaknesses in the way the licence scheme is run. NatureScot should ask themselves why they ignored our warnings, and the Scottish Government must ask itself whether this licensing scheme is doing what Parliament intended."
