MEMBERS of the New Forest Hounds have pledged to take action to stop dead animals being left on the roadside for days on end.

The local hunt has come to the rescue just weeks before new European Union regulations will dictate that the incinerator used to dispose of ponies and cattle killed in road accidents is inadequate.

EU chiefs have ruled that from January 1, 2005, the incinerator at the hunt's kennels near Cadnam can no longer be used because it produces emissions deemed to be harmful to the environment.

The current incineration and collection service has been run and heavily subsided by the New Forest Hounds for many years.

Faced with the challenge of a ban on hunting from February and the change in rules regarding the furnace, the hunt decided it could no longer afford to continue the costly service.

Commoners, responsible for huge numbers of animals in the Forest, feared that they would not be able to fund an alternative commercial solution.

But the New Forest Hounds have now pledged to continue collecting certain carcasses for a further year and will foot the bill for a commercial delivery service to pick them up from their kennels twice weekly.

Graham Ferris, spokesman for the New Forest Hounds, said: "Rather than see this disaster for the Forest, the hunt has decided that it will continue to offer a collection service for casualties on the open Forest and road traffic accident victims, even though using an alternative means of disposal will be significantly more expensive."

He added: "We thought it would be very bad for the image of the Forest and we seemed to be the only people that could do anything about it."

Mr Ferris estimated that the current service costs the hunt between £15,000-£25,000 and because of their uncertain future they can no longer afford to make collections from farms.

Richard Manley, chairman of the Commoners Defence Association, said: "They have dug us out of the mire."