DOZENS of illegal foxhunts are taking place each week in defiance of the government’s ban on hunting with dogs, hunt supporters have admitted.

On the eve of the first anniversary of the Hunting Act, The Sunday Times was last week allowed to accompany a hunt that used a full pack of 18 dogs to chase down four foxes, which were then killed.

The act forbids the use of more than two hounds to chase or flush out foxes. But in the year since it was introduced there have been no prosecutions of foxhunts by police.

Members of the hunt admitted that they had been ignoring the law for the entire year and said packs in neighbouring areas were doing likewise.

Last night Simon Hart, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, which campaigns for country sports, conceded that many illegal hunts were taking place regularly but argued that the breaches were “a powerful reason” for the law to be changed.

The disclosure comes as a BBC documentary team has captured hunt members on camera admitting that they have been pushing the law to its limits.

In The Last Tally Ho? to be broadcast tonight on BBC1, officials and followers of the Vale of White Horse hunt in Gloucestershire describe how they circumvent the ban.

Sidney Bailey, former huntsman with the hunt, said on camera of one hunt after the ban: “We hunted foxes all day and I don’t care who knows about it. We were very lucky. We got away with a proper day’s hunting.”

Julian Weston, one of the hunt’s 200 members, is shown saying: “It’s quite obvious at times they (the hounds) are hunting a fox and having a wonderful time doing it. It’s a shame we can’t carry on without worrying about the fact we are not allowed to.”

Police have struggled to mount any prosecutions because of the difficulty of amassing sufficient evidence. Only one prosecution — a private action by the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) against a hunt on Exmoor — is currently before the courts, even though LACS claim illegal hunts are widespread.

Douglas Batchelor, the LACS chief executive, said it had “credible evidence” that more than 40% of hunts were breaking the law at least some of the time. “There is increasing concern that the flouting of the law is so widescale that it is now a public order issue and not just a hunting matter,” he added.

In Wales, where there are more than 100 separate hunts, it is particularly widespread. According to the huntsmen in the principality, many are breaking the law every time they meet, which is usually several times a week.

Those taking part say they need to cull foxes to protect their lambs and that using only two hounds to flush them out is ineffective.

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