The League Against Cruel Sports today called for the disbanding of the County Down staghounds following published police reports yesterday of the hunt chasing an exhausted stag along the A1 carriageway for up to 20 minutes.

Mike Hobday, Head of Public Affairs at the League said, "The cruelty of stag hunting will repel the great majority of people. But this incident shows another serious problem with the activity. The County Down Stag Hounds are utterly unable to prevent their hounds chasing this stag along the A1 - if the stag runs that way, the hounds will follow. Incident like this, with hunts disrupting traffic and putting lives in danger are simply inevitable while hunting continues.

"The hunt should cease their barbaric activities immediately. If they will not, then legislation will be required to force them to. Stag hunting is an horrific activity. There is no place for it in a modern society."