PROTESTING hunt supporters posed for pictures with their hands round the neck of an effigy of Tony Blair.

A red-jacketed rider then shouted "throw him to the dogs" and the mannequin - adorned with the word "vermin" on its chest - was thrown into the sniffing mass of hounds at the York and Ainsty South Hunt, at Easingwold.

The scene summed up the strong mood of defiance among the region's hunting community at the weekend, as they gathered to show their contempt for the Government's ban on hunting with dogs.

Easingwold was typical of towns and villages across the country. Its market square was heaving with those wanting to cheer on the huntsmen and women and express their disgust at the ban.

More than 100 riders, along with a pack of 24 hounds, turned out for the hunt, which was established nearly a century ago.

Organisers were quick to stress that they intended to stay within the law and would simply exercise the hounds in the surrounding countryside.

The Hunting Act came into force last week, outlawing hunting with dogs throughout England and Wales.

Jeremy Timms, senior joint master of the York and Ainsty South Hunt, addressed the crowd before leading off the pack.

"Please take note Mr Blair from Easingwold market square," he said.

"This legislation is useless and worthless.

"This is not the last hunting season and today marks the beginning of the end of the Hunting Act.

"We are not going to lie down and disappear into the sunset over the Vale of York."

Timothy Kirkhope and Edward McMillan-Scott, Conservative MEPs for Yorkshire and the Humber, also joined the hunt gathering.

Meanwhile, at the Middleton Hunt at Birdsall, near Malton, about 160 hunter horses, twice as many foot followers and scores of people turned out.

Protesters wore "fight the ban" stickers and drank stirrup cups while the hunt's pedigree Studbrook hounds excitedly milled around their legs.

Edward Duke, a member of the Middleton Hunt and a founder of the Real Countryside Alliance, said: "Nobody will notice if there is a difference, I can promise you.

"If we find a fox, well that'll be unfortunate and we might have to chase it.

"You're now seeing the people that this government's taken on. We're the hearts of the oak of England.

"It's a new era today. I had a little weep on Thursday night on the top of Leppington Hill when we finished in the dark, and then we started the new era. I'm looking forward to hunting in the new way."

Pamela Haigh, a stud groom who looks after a dozen hunters and two livery horses at stables at Birdsall, said: "We're all going to hang in and hope one day hunting will return by law. How do I feel? Devastated."

Simon Jackson, a self-employed farrier from Claxton, said he would lose about 40 per cent of his business because of the ban.

Christine Newlove, of Driffield, said: "I feel very, very sad, because this is our heritage, this is our tradition."

Animal rights campaigner Annabel Holt, of Dalby, herself a former huntswoman, staged a small protest with banners which passed off without incident.

Meanwhile, more than 200 hunt supporters dressed as criminals and foxes for a Not The Last Supper ball at Thirsk Racecourse, to protest at the ban on hunting with dogs.

Co-organiser Steve Newlove, 25, a pig farmer from Thorpe Underwood, said: "We dressed as prisoners because technically that is what we'll be if we carry on hunting. It is a ridiculous law."

Meanwhile, hunting campaigner Ken Holmes was snubbed by the governor of Armley Prison when he went there to protest with his dogs.

The horse dentist, from Cliffe, near Selby, took two of his pedigree hunting terriers, Panda and Jack, to the Leeds jail, to highlight the "stupidity" of banning hunting with dogs.

He was told by officers guarding the gate that the governor would not see him.

Updated: 10:25 Monday, February 21, 2005