THE Scottish government must take action to stop hunters and estate owners exploiting loopholes that have allowed hunting with packs of dogs to continue, the Scottish Greens demanded today.

The Hunting With Dogs Act, introduced last year, imposed a two-dog limit for hunts.

But it also includes a provision for NatureScot to issue licences for the use of more than two dogs to control wild mammals when there is no other solution available.

New official data shows that, in the first hunting season covered by the legislation, at least 41 licences were issued allowing the use of packs of dogs, with 75 per cent of those licences permitting the use of 20 or more dogs.

Scottish Greens rural affairs spokeswoman Ariane Burgess and campaigners from the League Against Cruel Sports had previously warned that the system created by the Act would lead to new loopholes and allow large-scale hunts to continue.

“The government insisted otherwise, but that is exactly what has happened,” Ms Burgess said today.

“These figures show the shocking and widespread exploitation of the system by hunters and estate owners who know exactly what they are doing.

“If we are to have the outright ban that the public supports, then we need action to close the loopholes and end the cruelty.”

Ms Burgess branded hunting with dogs “an inhumane and totally unnecessary practice that belongs firmly in the past.”

She said: “There is absolutely no justification for using a pack of dogs to kill defenceless animals. It has no place in a modern and compassionate Scotland.

“I urge the Scottish government to urgently reflect on these findings and to act to ensure that the loopholes are closed and that this cruelty is finally stopped.”