FOR more than 300 years it has been an integral part of rural life across Hampshire.

Pink-coated horse riders have assembled on village greens and set off in pursuit of what some say is the countryside's biggest pest - the fox.

As well as creating a unique spectacle the bloodsport has also provided income for farriers, livery yards and other businesses associated with hunting.

However, centuries of rural tradition are about to be swept away.

Hunting with hounds will be illegal from tomorrow following a long and bitter battle fought by people who regard it as a barbaric activity that has no place in a civilised society.

A campaign to persuade Parliament to outlaw hunting with hounds was launched by animal welfare groups some 60 years ago.

Bloodsport enthusiasts have always denied that fox-hunting is inherently cruel.

They often compare it with other methods of pest control such as snares, which can condemn a fox to a slow and agonising death.

However, attempts to ban fox-hunting finally succeeded last year, when the new Hunting Act was passed after weeks of parliamentary ping-pong in which it moved back and forth between the Commons and the Lords.

The government eventually deployed the little-used 1949 Parliament Act to override the Lords and force the legislation on to the statue book.

The move was challenged by the pro-hunt Countryside Alliance, which said the law was invalid because the Parliament Act was never ratified by the Lords, but the case was thrown out by the High Court.

Bloodsport enthusiasts in some parts of the UK have vowed to defy the Act despite running the risk of being fined up to £5,000.

The threat of a rural revolt has turned the spotlight on the issue of whether the police will be able to enforce the ban.

The Association of Chief Police Officers says successful prosecutions will have to rely on photographic evidence - or an admission of guilt.

Spokesman Alistair McWhirter said: "Unless someone owns up, you need a wild animal in the picture to show someone has committed an offence."

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the effectiveness of the new legislation, Hampshire Chief Constable Paul Kernaghan has insisted that anyone who defies the law will be prosecuted.

However, Hampshire hunts have vowed to comply with the Act in the hope that it will be overturned or repealed.

Hursley and Hambledon Hunt supporter Victoria Cobden told the Daily Echo: "We won't be flouting the legislation, even though we don't agree with it.

"I believe there are a couple of hunts in Wales that are going to carry on fox-hunting, but it's unlikely anyone will find a hunt in Hampshire that is not abiding by the law."

The New Forest Hounds (NFH) are also planning to comply with the legislation.

Their last proper hunt was taking place at Fritham, near Lyndhurst, today and was expected to attract a large number of bloodsport enthusiasts.

On Saturday the NFH will gather at Burley before setting off across the countryside, just as they have done every Saturday for many years.

However, NFH members say they will simply be exercising their horses and hounds and insist that the dogs will be called off if they start chasing a fox.

Spokesman Graham Ferris said: "We are going to stay within the confines of the law.

"We can stop our hounds and do so regularly if they get too close to a railway line, a major road or an area that we're not allowed to enter."

Anti-hunt campaigners will be out in force to ensure the hunt complies with the new law.

Later this year the NFH intend to experiment with trail hunting, in which a cloth soaked in a fox's urine is dragged across the countryside to give the hounds a scent to follow.

The urine is likely to be obtained from foxes kept in captivity or those that have been shot by gamekeepers to protect their stock.

If the trials are successful, the NFH will ask the Forestry Commission for consent to stage trail hunting next season to keep the hunt intact.

Mr Ferris added: "Our last meet is bound to be an emotional occasion.

"However, we're confident we have a plan for our future that can be implemented until such time as the new hunting law is repealed."

Animal welfare organisations such as the RSPCA say they hope that day never comes.

John Rolls, the charity's director of animal welfare promotion, said: "The new legislation reflects modern society's abhorrence of cruelty to wild animals.

"To willingly inflict unnecessary suffering on another sentient being is intolerable.

"For this reason the RSPCA heralds the ban on hunting with dogs as marking a watershed in the development of a more civilised society."

Luke Axel-Berg, a spokesman for the Ropley-based Hampshire Hunt, said: "We will hunt within the law on Saturday at Moundsmere Manor, Preston Candover. We will be exercising the hounds and hunting a trail line.

"If the hounds chance upon a fox then our interpretation is that we are not breaking the law because we didn't go hunting with the intention of hunting the fox. We have to be seen trying to stop the hounds from chasing it.

"Nothing is clear with this law and that is why it is a bad law," said Mr Axel-Berg.