At Protect the Wild, one of our core missions is to end the hunting of wildlife with hounds. In response, our opponents claim that if we succeed, they will be forced to put down their hounds, a cruel and manipulative argument that reveals just how willing the hunting fraternity is to weaponise their own animals to protect their pastime.We launched Rehome the Hounds to prove them wrong. Hounds can thrive in homes, living happy and fulfilling lives. The idea that they must be culled is simply untrue. But our mission goes further. We are committed to exposing the welfare crisis that exists right now, hounds are routinely overbred, abandoned, and discarded when no longer deemed useful. This must end.We are calling on rescue organisations to pledge to accept at least one hound from their local hunt, and to offer phased rehoming support. We are calling on hunts to stop excessive breeding, start rehoming, and take responsibility for every hound they have. The choice belongs to the hunts.
The Protect the Wild Unseen Victims report recorded 2,444 welfare incidents across three seasons, with 855 in 2024-25 alone, at nearly half of all monitored meets. Incidents span abandonment, road exposure, visible injuries, and hounds lost or out of control. Rates have not improved. In several categories, they have worsened. And these figures are conservative, the true scale of suffering is greater still.But welfare failures during the hunt season are only part of the picture. Thousands of hounds are killed by hunts every year, culled for being too slow, injured, or surplus to requirements, with no inspection, no standardised procedure, and no legal accountability. When our undercover footage from 2021 was reviewed by veterinary professionals, the findings were deeply troubling: hounds were not correctly restrained before being shot, no heartbeat checks were carried out, one hound required a second shot three minutes after the first, and some animals appeared to still be moving when handled. The hunting industry calls this lawful euthanasia. The veterinary professionals say otherwise.
Protect the Wild has teamed up with renowned animal behaviourists Amelia Steele and Toby Craze to champion the cause of hounds and shatter the myth that they cannot be rehomed. Hounds are no different to greyhounds, another breed long defined by their working role, once thought unsuitable for domestic life, yet now successfully rehomed in their thousands. With the right support, patience, and understanding, foxhounds are equally capable of making the transition into loving family homes. Amelia and Toby's expertise and advocacy is helping to change the conversation around these dogs, proving that with time and compassionate guidance, a life beyond the hunt is not just possible, it is something they deserve.
Protect the Wild has also partnered with The Pack Project UK, a rescue organisation experienced in rehoming dogs using a phased approach, giving dogs the time and space they need to adjust to domestic life at their own pace. The Pack Project are passionate advocates for hunt hounds, firmly believing they should be viewed and treated as any other dog in need. Their message to rescues is simple: if you have the capacity to take just one, you should. That belief is already gaining momentum, some rescues have pledged over 90 spaces to help foxhounds find the homes they deserve. We look forward to sharing more on that very soon!
If you would like to support this campaign, start by getting in touch with your local rescue. Ask whether they would pledge one space, or more, and encourage them to be open to taking in a hunt hound. Every rescue that says yes weakens the hunting industry's claim that there is nobody willing to help.Ultimately, the decision lies with the hunts. But if we can find the spaces, build the network, and prove that homes exist, we make history. We become something more than those who wrote these dogs off as a lost cause, who reached for every excuse to avoid trying. Hunt hounds are not unrehomeable. They never were. They were simply never given the chance.
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