A "SURVIVAL strategy" to keep hunts alive in the South West has been hailed a success, but the need to repeal the Hunting Act is pressing, according to a new survey by the Countryside Alliance.

Hunt supporters issued a "health check" to 300 hunts across the country ahead of what they hope will be the final season before the 2004 Act is repealed.

The survey found that 93 per cent of hunts reported having the same number or more subscribers than before the Hunting Act came into force, 76 per cent had not shed jobs and 73 per cent had maintained the same number of hounds.

Simon Hart, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, said the hunting community had shown dogged determination to keep going. He added: "These figures are a testament to the hunting community's determination to keep hunting's infrastructure together until the Hunting Act can be repealed.

"This healthy picture shows how well hunts have risen to the short-term challenges presented by the Act while the campaign for repeal has progressed.

"No success can be attributed to the Hunting Act itself, which has been a failure at every turn.

"When the Act was passed, hunts adopted a survival strategy until repeal could be achieved – it is not a long-term strategy."

Last month, the League Against Cruel Sports launched a Keep Cruelty History campaign insisting that 75 per cent of the public supported keeping a ban in place and suggesting that 59 per cent of people would change their vote if a candidate was pro-hunting.

But Mr Hart said: "It is worth remembering that back in 2004 when the Act was passed, we said that legislation based on prejudice, rather than evidence and principle, could only ever be temporary.

"We set out to achieve three things – keep the infrastructure of hunting in one piece, demonstrate that the Act was a farce and get repeal on to the political agenda.

"We have done all of those things, and what started as a possibility has now become a probability. We take nothing for granted, but at the start of what could be the final season under the Hunting Act, hunts are united, determined and ready for repeal."

The Countryside Alliance survey, conducted this autumn, states that 89 per cent of hunts reported an increase in support from their communities.

Earlier this month, Conservative leader David Cameron reiterated his determination to hold a Commons vote on overturning the hunting ban if the Tories came to power.