An animal charity has donated equipment to help Wiltshire Police tackle illegal hare coursing in the county.

The Hare Preservation Trust has donated seven poacher blocks and a drone to Wiltshire Police to help stop hare coursing.

The illegal activity involves using dogs such as lurchers to chase hares across open land and often involves gambling on the outcome.

The pastime causes distress to hares and damage to farms.

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The poacher blocks are concrete barriers designed to be placed at entrances to private land.

They are designed in a way that allows farm machinery to pass over them with minimal disruption, while preventing cars and 4x4s, often used in hare coursing, from entering.

A farmer who was the first recipient of one of the blocks said: "We have had trouble with hare coursers in the past.

"There is now no other entrance for hare coursers to gain access to the farm, so hopefully the poacher block will deter hare coursers from returning.

"Poacher blocks are a great tool, and I am hopeful it will put a stop to hare coursing on my land."

The drone will be used to assist in investigations into hare coursing incidents.

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Chief Inspector James Brain, the tactical lead for rural crime at Wiltshire Police, said: "Tackling hare coursing and poaching is one of the Chief Constable’s priorities for rural crime, and officers across the force remain absolutely committed to tackling hare coursing and poaching.

"We are grateful to the Hare Preservation Trust for donating such valuable resources for us to be able to loan to our farming communities."

A spokesperson for the Hare Preservation Trust said: "Rural crime, and particularly hare coursing, is an ever-increasing issue countrywide.

"The Hare Preservation Trust works for the preservation and welfare of the hare, and we know that if farmers feel that their land is threatened by coursers and lampers, they will go out and rid their fields of hares themselves."

Wiltshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson said: "The damage hare coursers cause to the environment and the physical abuse they subject anyone to who challenges them, is substantial.

"We are proud to partner with them to support their ambition to make hares and our countryside safer."

Wiltshire Police own the poacher blocks and will loan them on a short-term basis to farmers across Wiltshire who have been hit the most by hare coursers illegally accessing their land.