HUNTERS refusing to collect fallen stock claim dead farm animals will be left to rot if a hunting ban is passed.

The Beaufort Hunt has stopped collecting dead carcasses in protest against the government's plans to ban hunting with dogs.

This week farmers across the region have been left to pick up the bill for disposal.

Now the hunt, which has been joined by Princes Charles, William and Harry in the past, fears dead animals will be dumped if nothing is brought in to replace them.

Beaufort Hunt secretary Nigel Maidment said: "The last thing we want to do is inconvenience the farmers but the government seems to be going headlong into this without giving a great deal of thought about it.

"Defra has contacted us and asked us to start collecting fallen stock again.

"But this is what it will be like if a ban goes through.

"There is no plan in place and it will cost you and me the taxpayer thousands of pounds to pick up the dead carcasses every year while we do it for free.

"I can see if a ban went through stock left dead on the sides of streets and roads even."

The Beaufort Hunt says it visits 30 farms in north Wiltshire every day and picks up nine tonnes of carcasses each week.

Huntsmen claim they collect dead farm animals seven days a week and pay an estimated £60,000 every year for disposal on behalf of the farmers.

Alec Glass, of Stockham Marsh Farm, said: "It makes it very difficult for us as we've got two dead cows and we are ringing Defra to see what it advises. I don't know what the outcome will be.

"The huntsmen are trying to prove a point to Defra that it's a service that has been accepted for a long, long time. Collection of fallen stock is vital to us.

"There are very few slaughterhouses left to take our stock and it would be problematic with planning issues to build an incinerator.

"It will cost us for anyone else to take away the fallen stock while at the moment it's free."

The Avon Vale Hunt is still picking up carcasses but has now withdrawn from the government's National Fallen Stock Scheme that is set to start in November replacing the hunts.

A spokesman for Defra said: "Farmers can speak to their local animal health office about establishments which are approved under the regulations for collecting fallen stock in their area if they do not have a collector."

The House of Lords did not oppose the government's Hunting Bill after a nine-hour debate during the second reading on Tuesday.

The bill will now go to the committee stage in the House of Commons later this month.

An internet poll run on the Chippenham News website revealed 64 per cent backed the government's plan to ban hunting with dogs, 34 per cent disagreed and two per cent said they did not know.