The last chance to stop a ban on hunting with dogs in England and Wales coming into effect this week disappeared today when pro-hunt campaigners lost a legal appeal.
The ban, which outlaws an activity that began with the restoration of King Charles II in 1660, starts this Friday. Hunting activists had tried to stop it by claiming that the law used to push it through parliament was invalid.
But the Court of Appeal, comprising three of Britain's top judges including Lord Woolf the Lord Chief Justice, today dismissed the Countryside Alliance's challenge.
The ruling means rowdy pro-hunting protests could now become a regular feature of the run-up to May's expected election in the UK.
Although Prime Minister Tony Blair has never shown any enthusiasm to take on the hunting fraternity, he had made banning the sport - on grounds of cruelty - part of his 1997 election manifesto.
But such were the passions whipped up by the issue that legislation was frequently delayed, with hunt supporters staging huge demonstrations in support of what they say is their way of life and opponents clamouring for an end to a sport they regard as barbaric.
Eventually, the government rammed the ban through a sharply divided parliament last November with the rarely used 1949 Parliament Act, which the hunters claim is flawed.
The alliance has also lodged papers at the High Court in a second case in which they claim that the human rights of the hunting fraternity are being breached by the ban. That case however is not expected to be heard before April and will not delay the start of the ban.