ANTI-HUNT campaigners in Gloucestershire are using a new tool to keep an eye on meets.

An internet-based hunt map has been launched by the League Against Cruel Sports to track incidents of suspicious or illegal gatherings.

It has harnessed the power of networking site Twitter, with more than 7,500 followers ready to report any incidents through tweets onto a map of Britain.

The map is the latest tool to help flush out any hunters flouting the hunting ban.

But Gloucestershire hunt supporters claim the opposition is "clutching at straws" because they are conforming to the law.

Heythrop Hunt spokesman, Guy Avis, said: "We can actually listen in to them on their walkie-talkies and they haven't got a clue what's going on.

"They tell us we're cruel to our horses because they're sweating, and to our hounds if we shout at them.

"If we're going through a field of sheep then we're sheep rustling. They're really clutching at straws.

"The 'antis' that come out are fanatical and so unpleasant, even though I always talk to them."

The League says there have been more than 150 convictions under the Hunting Act, with last season seeing the highest number since the legislation came in.

Chief executive, Douglas Batchelor, said it was going "from strength to strength".

He said: "This time last year the hunters were claiming the law which curtails their bloodsport wouldn't reach its sixth anniversary, yet here we are.

"The truth is there's simply no appetite to repeal an Act which would turn the clock back to cruelty and allow hunting of wild animals with dogs.

"The public support the Hunting Act and we'll continue to celebrate its anniversary for years to come."

Ispos MORI polls in December showed 76 per cent of people thought fox- hunting should remain illegal and 84 per cent did not think deer hunting, hare hunting and coursing should be made legal again.

But Mr Avis said: "There have hardly been any convictions and mostly everyone's time – the police's and courts' – has been wasted.

"We've never had so much support, not just from hunting people, but the general public who don't want a traditional sport stopped.

"Masses of people ring up to know when meets, such as New Year's Day at Stow, are on."

Cotswold Hunt secretary, Richard Merrett, said: "The hunt map is of little interest to us. They can take what action they wish to take because as far as we're concerned we hunt within the law.

"We have more people hunting than we have ever done and I don't think countryside people genuinely accept the hunting ban should continue."

The map can be viewed at www.huntmap.co.uk.