THE NATIONAL Trust has banned a hunt from Kingston Lacy near Wimborne following claims a fox was chased and killed.

The trust said trail hunt licence dates for the Portman had been cancelled “for the remainder of the season.”

Earlier this year, the League Against Cruel Sports claimed a fox was “chased” by hunting hounds under the control of the Portman Hunt during the incident near Sturminster Newton on January 2.

Dorset Police launched an investigation following the allegations, however, the force later said there would be no further action due to “insufficient evidence.”

League Against Cruel Sports also claimed the hunt was filmed chasing another fox with a pack of hounds across the Kingston Lacy estate in March 2017.

A National Trust spokesperson said: “We have taken the decision to cancel all remaining trail hunt licence dates for the Portman for the remainder of the season. We will not go into detail over specific allegations against hunts and are not in a position to comment further.”

The National Trust said this season staff are carrying out on the ground monitoring of licensed hunts, including random scent sampling and spot-checks for those trail hunts that they licence.

They said that the licensed hunt is responsible, under the conditions of the licence, for the behaviour of the hounds and followers associated with it.

It added that if any of the terms of their licence agreements are proven to have been breached during the checks, they would take “strong, immediate action with the relevant hunt”.

A spokesperson from the Portman Hunt: “We are disappointed that the National Trust has cancelled our licence for the remaining dates for this season and believe that we have not breached the terms of the licence, however there are ongoing discussions with the Trust regarding this matter so we are unable to comment any further at this stage. The Portman Hunt operates legally within the confines of the Hunting Act 2004 and takes great pride in maintaining good relationships with all of our landowners, including the National Trust.”

Chris Luffingham, director of campaigns at the League Against Cruel Sports, said: “The Kingston Lacy Estate is to be commended for ensuring the license granted last week to hunt across its land has now been cancelled. This outcome reflects strong public opposition to the practice – with 85 per cent of people opposed to hunting foxes with hounds.”