The former director of the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) has announced that at all levels the Hunting Act has “failed miserably”.

In a letter to the Western Morning News James Barrington, who is currently an animal welfare consultant to the pro-hunting Countryside Alliance, stated: “While the supporters of this law claimed that it would improve animal welfare it is clear that their true aim was to prevent a particular type of hunting upheld by a particular type of person. However, at all levels the Hunting Act has failed miserably.”

His statement comes just days after anti-hunt campaigners announced they are to invest more than a million pounds in a scheme to catch people illegally hunting in the Westcountry despite police never having scored a single conviction under the controversial ban.

The League has launched a Hunt Crimewatch advertising campaign and told huntsmen to expect more activists armed with cameras hiding in bushes and watching for wrong doing. It announced that it will spend £1m over the next four years on hiring investigations staff and equipment to gather evidence and get hunts into court.

Mr Barrington, who is a former executive director of LACS, continued: “The vast majority of successful prosecutions have been for poaching offences which were already illegal under legislation that pre-existed the Hunting Act, while organised hunting has survived, albeit in a different form. As for animal welfare, the limited evidence gathered so far indicates that wild mammal welfare has declined.

“Is it not time, therefore, to consider a more practical and principled way to improve the welfare and management of our wild mammals and forget this obsession with banning the use of scenting hounds – a natural and humane method that is selective and leaves no wounded survivors?”

Mr Barrington joined LACS in 1972, when he was 19, and was its executive director for seven years.

He left the League in 1995 and formed the All-Party Parliamentary Middle Way Group, which was opposed to the Hunting Act but campaigned for a compromise deal.

Last month the Countryside Alliance published figures showing that only a handful of people had been prosecuted under the Hunting Act since it was introduced in 2005.

Opponents of the seven-season-old ban say the charity has resorted to employing “increasingly desperate tactics” to shore up the failed Hunting Act and give it a “veneer of success”.

The renewal of hostilities over the emotionally-charged issue comes after David Cameron told the WMN that plans for a free vote in the House of Commons which could reverse Labour’s legislation would go ahead.

The Prime Minister, a keen country sportsman, has refused to set a date, claiming the country’s pressing economic difficulties must take priority, but has said he will vote to repeal the law.

The League claims that three quarters of the public support the ban and that the majority of hunts are flouting the law.

“This is the seventh hunting season under the ban, but all the evidence suggests that hunts are getting more lawless than ever,” said Joe Duckworth, the League’s chief executive.

“Appointing investigations officers around the country will enable us to increase our efforts in gathering evidence for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.”

The League employs retired police officers who review evidence and provide training on the Hunting Act to serving officers. It also runs a Hunt Crimewatch service, gathering intelligence on hunt related crime, and passes information to police forces.

“Our focus is not only on the illegal hunting, but on all the crimes committed by the hunts,” said Mr Duckworth.

The Countryside Alliance says the law is an “unenforceable, inconsistent and confusing mess”.

Alison Hawes, the South West regional director, added: “It is hardly surprising that the league continue their desperate attempt to shore up the failed Hunting Act.

“A law they wanted, wrote and celebrate does not work on any level.

“The simple fact is that Devon and Cornwall Police have not proceeded against a single person under the Hunting Act in six years, showing its utter failure.”

The Hunting Act of 2004 effectively bans hunting with dogs but allows the hunting of a trail.

Flushing a fox from a hiding place using two hounds then shooting or using a bird of prey to kill the animal also remains legal.

So far, there have been seven convictions under the Act, including two in Somerset, but none in Devon or Cornwall.

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