Wiltshire Police has asked for help identifying the people seen in the video allegedly showing members of the Avon Vale Hunt trail hunting group forcefully pulling wild foxes out of their den and throwing them to their hounds.

The footage was released on Thursday, February 9 and claims to show the actions of a Wiltshire-based hunt.

Reactions to the footage have poured in from celebrities.

Naturalist Chris Packham shared the video on multiple social media accounts, commenting on Instagram that it showed the “disgusting reality of fox hunting” and urging followers of his Facebook page to “please do everything you can to help us shut fox hunting down.”

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO

Musician Sir Brian May of Queen, who leads animal welfare organisation Save Me Trust, released a video on the organisation’s Facebook page.

In the video, Sir Brian said: “This video speaks for itself, of course. It’s so shocking and so disgusting, that it can’t leave any decent people in any doubt about what trail hunting really means. Of course it’s a lie. This kind of digging out and torturing of wild animals is routine behaviour for these people.”

As of 3.06pm Thursday, the Avon Vale Hunt’s website had disappeared from the web, though it was live that morning.

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On Thursday, Wiltshire Police released a statement asking the public to help identify those seen in the video.

Chief inspector James Brain said: “We take any allegations of wildlife offences extremely seriously and we would urge anyone with information that could identify those in this video to contact ourselves or Crimestoppers at the earliest opportunity.

“We take a robust approach to wildlife crime and are actively investigating the circumstances depicted in this footage.”

The Hunt Saboteurs Association released names of members of the Avon Vale Hunt that they believe to be present in the video, but their identities have not been confirmed.

Fox hunting has been illegal in the United Kingdom since February 2005, after passage of the Hunting Act 2004.