French acrobat Nathalie Jeanson performs during the annual Festival du Merveilleux at the Musee des Arts Forains in Paris on Dec. 26, 2025. Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images
Riders with horses and hounds take part in the Old Surrey, Burstow and West Kent Hunt Boxing Day Meet in Chiddingstone Causeway, England, on Dec. 26, 2025. The government has announced plans to follow through on a pledge to ban trail hunting as part of a package of animal welfare reforms. Traditional hound hunts of wild mammals were banned in England and Wales in the Hunting Act 2004, but the practice of trail hunting, which replicates a hound hunt by laying an animal scent trail, remains legal. Animal welfare activists have criticized the practice as an unregulated smokescreen for hunting wild animals, while hunting advocates say it benefits rural communities by boosting local economies. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
