IFAW (the International Fund for Animal Welfare) have taken out advertisements in newspapers across the south west telling readers to contact police if they see any hunts ‘behaving suspiciously’.

As reported in Horse and Hound, the quarter-page adverts in the Western Morning News and the Bristol Evening Post say: ‘The [IFAW] believes that a cruel and illegal activity could be taking place in your area. Some people may be training their hounds by setting them upon fox cubs.’

IFAW’s website today warns against the ‘cruel and illegal activity’ that ‘could be taking place in your area’.

The Countryside Alliance has branded the campaign ‘irresponsible’.

A spokesman for IFAW, the organisation that has taken out adverts in newspapers across the south west, said: ‘We’re not asking people to waste police time, but trying to facilitate the gathering of useful information.’

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