Ban on Hunting With Dogs Leads to Arrests

Hunters with gleaming horses and packs of eager hounds took to the muddy fields of England and Wales, testing the government’s ban on hunting with dogs that took effect Friday.

Police in Wiltshire, western England, said they arrested four men who were found Saturday at 4 a.m. with four dogs and the carcass of a hare. They were the first hunters suspected of breaking the law.

“The law says a person is guilty of an offense if he hunts a wild mammal with a dog. That is a fairly straightforward piece of legislation,” said Suffolk County Chief Constable Alastair McWhirter.