HUNTSMEN and supporters turned out in force in Malton's Market Place confident that they were not attending the last traditional Boxing Day meet.

A small group of local anti-hunt protesters was also present and hoping not to be back on December 26, 2004.

As clouds threatened rain, riders of all ages including several children enjoyed the greetings and smiles of several hundred spectators and the compliments on their horses' and ponies' turnout.

"I've been hunting for 14 years and we will be hunting for many years to come," said huntmaster Frank Houghton-Brown. "Rural people have always supported hunting and always will."

His hunt, the Middleton Hunt held two meets on the day - at Driffield as well as Malton - and was back in the field again the next day for the regular Saturday meeting it holds during the hunting season.

At the top of Market Place, former hunter turned hunt protester Annabel Holt, from Stearsby, near Malton, with Linda Smith, of Norton, and a few other like-minded people held two large protest banners.

"I hope not to be here next year," she said. "This is the only planet with life and we need to revere life."

She hunted herself until her divorce more than 15 years ago. But she changed her attitude and now opposes all blood sports, particularly shooting.

At 11.25am, the horn sounded and the score or so of huntsmen, women and children rode off towards Old Malton and an afternoon of sport.

Elsewhere in North Yorkshire, the York and Ainsty hunt had two meets, in Boroughbridge and Easingwold, the Zetland met in Aldbrough St John, the Sinnington at Kirkbymoorside, the Bilsdale at Cowesby Hall, the Goathland held a joint meet with the Staintondale in Cloughton Newlands, Scarborough, the Bedale met in Bedale, the Hurworth in Northallerton, the West of Yore in Masham, and the Derwent at Brompton-by-Sawdon.

Meanwhile, an anti-hunt group reports that opinion polls show the majority of the public is opposed to the hunt.

Phyllis Campbell-McRae, UK director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and chairwoman of Campaigning to Protect Hunt Animals (CPHA ), says: "A MORI poll conducted in November 2003 shows that 76pc of the British public wants hunting with dogs to be made illegal.

"The Government must now make it clear when it intends to reintroduce the hunting bill, paving the way for an end to this cruelty once and for all."

Hunting has always been a minority pursuit, and she claimed that support for hunting is "falling sharply". Since 1965, the number of hunts in England and Wales has declined to 307 from 353, whereas the number of drag hunts, which don't chase live quarry but instead follow an artificial scent, has tripled.

Another survey, conducted by NOP on behalf of the Countryside Alliance, however, showed that 98pc of the public think there are more important issues for the Government to tackle than hunting.

The County Land and Business Association (CLA), meanwhile, claims that the Government's hunting bill will never be acceptable to Parliament, and the way forward is with two private members' bills on wild mammal welfare, one in the House of Commons and one in the Lords.

The bills are identical and aim to give wild mammals a similar level of protection to that enjoyed by pets and farmed animals, said CLA president Mark Hudson.

"A further hunting bill would be the fifth since 1997. Over 400 hours of parliamentary time have been spent on hunting bills since 1997. If the Government is serious about promoting the welfare of wild animals, it should make time for these bills that both aim to amend the Wild Mammals Protection Act 1996," he said.

Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik will introduce a bill exactly the same as that introduced by Lord Donoughue earlier this year and which completed its stages in the Lords. At the same time as that bill is introduced in the Commons, Lord Donoughue will re-introduce his bill again in the Lords.

"If the Government has any reservations about these bills, they should let Lembit Opik and Lord Donoughue know so that they can amend their bills to accommodate its concerns, where reasonable," said Mr Hudson.

He added: "We suspect the Government doesn't want either of these bills to succeed because it is more concerned with appeasing its own backbenchers and it is less interested in acting in the best interests of wild mammals."

Updated: 12:36 Monday, December 29, 2003