HUNT supporters welcomed the Cotley Harriers Boxing Day meet in Chard on Monday (December 27) despite a number of objectors turning out.

The hunt rode through the town without pausing due to the pandemic.

Joint master Leisa Lavender said: "Local residents braved the elements to cheer the hunt on their rescheduled traditional Boxing Day meet.

"Nearly 200 people lined the High Street with a small band of anti-hunt protestors expressing their views, but locals' clapping and cheering drowned them out.

"The hunt rode through town without stopping this year after consultation with the Covid support officer for Somerset County Council, who advised the Hunt."

She added: "The hunt has many connections in Chard, through family, friends, schools, businesses and clubs.

"Chard is inextricably linked to the Cotley Hounds and has been since the Chard Mayor invited the hunt to meet under the Guildhall Clock over 80 years ago."

But the League Against Cruel Sports has again called on the Government to "strengthen the Hunting Act" to "properly protect" wildlife.

Referring to hunting in general rather than accusing Cotley Harriers of anything illegal, Chris Luffingham, LACS director of external affairs, said: "The picture of an innocent pastime entrenched in tradition that the hunts put out at this time of year covers a dark truth: they’re anything but innocent.

“We agree with a top judge, who convicted a senior huntsman of encouraging others to use loopholes to break the Hunting Act, when he described their activity as ‘old fashioned illegal hunting’.

“We know their red coats are nothing but a poor disguise, an attempt to put up a smokescreen of their intention to chase and kill wildlife as if the Hunting Act had never been brought in.

“Major landowners such as the National Trust, which has in the past licensed hunts in Somerset and Dorset, have banned hunts from their land because they simply don’t believe they’re abiding by the law.

"Hunting groups have also been kicked off key meetings with police forces for the same reason.

“We say enough is enough.

"It’s time to strengthen the Hunting Act and remove those loopholes so wildlife can be properly protected, and for landowners to deny hunts the space to potentially break the law.”