The League Against Cruel Sports is to sell off acres of land it owns on Exmoor in a bid to fund a £1 million campaign to save the ban on hunting.

The league owns or manages 2,000 acres of land in Somerset which it bought or was donated over decades to try to curtail the activities of stag hunts.

But with an expected Parliamentary free vote on repealing the Hunting Act looking too close to call in the autumn, it is raising a seven- figure sum to launch a huge campaign to persuade the public to tell their MPs to support the ban.

Today marks the 2,000th day since the Hunting Act came into force, and league chief executive Douglas Batchelor said the sale of land would help an investment in the campaign to save the ban.

"We are absolutely focused and determined in our aim to ensure the Hunting Act remains," said Mr Batchelor.

"Our investment in this campaign recognises the massive public support and strength of feeling amongst our members and supporters that there must be no return to bloodsports. We will not lie down and allow the views of a small minority to undo years of hard work in bringing about a ban."

Which particular areas of land the organisation owns on Exmoor will be sold has not been revealed, but it is understood that the 250-acre Baronsdown sanctuary will remain in its hands.

Smaller parcels of land up to 10 per cent of the total League holding will be sold off as it tries to raise the money. A spokesman said the campaign would be financed by donations, the use of cash reserves and the sale of "some" land stocks.

"The league will retain sporting rights over all the land it sells, most of which was purchased in the 1960s and 1970s to provide sanctuary to animals running from the hunt," he said.

"By retaining the sporting rights, the league ensures that hunting and shooting cannot legally take place on the land, whatever the outcome of the vote on repeal."

The league is one of four main landowners on Exmoor, along with the National Trust, the Exmoor National Parks Authority and the Badgworthy Land Company, a consortium of pro-hunters set up to directly oppose the league's previous acquisitions.

The league is understood to have sold Barlynch Priory, a valuable rural home on land it owns, 18 months ago.

The Countryside Alliance claimed the land sale would anger the league's own supporters.

"The news that the league is selling off some of its land is not a huge surprise but will anger the supporters who hoped the money they gave the league was ring-fenced for its upkeep," said spokeswoman Jill Grieve.

"This drive for cash appears to show that support for the league is diminishing just as attempts to justify the failed Hunting Act grow increasingly shrill."