The ban on hunting is effectively dead in the water after a crucial High Court ruling went in favour of two West hunts.

A ruling on Wednesday (February 4) over the Tony Wright case and the biggest remaining prosecution against the Devon and Somerset Staghounds (DSSH), means anti-hunt campaigners and prosecutors will find it even harder bringing a successful case against hunts.

The two key rulings throw into serious doubt whether any of the many prosecutions against hunts in the region will ever make it back to court. Prosecutions against the DSSH and the Heythrop, for example, had been on hold pending yesterday's crucial judgment.

The High Court judges ruled on two key arguments over the interpretation of the Hunting Act and in both cases he ruled in favour of the hunts and not the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

They decided hunts were not breaking the law if they were merely searching for a wild mammal and that it was for prosecutors to prove an accused huntsman was not utilising one of the Act's exemptions and not for the huntsman to prove he was.

When the case was being argued late last year, CPS prosecutor Kerry Barker told the High Court if that last burden of proof ruling went against it, it would render the Hunting Act virtually unenforceable.

It means hunts can now continue to test the law and rely on several exemptions, and can leave it to prosecutors to find enough evidence against that exemption.

While Countryside Alliance campaigners in the West were celebrating, the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) tried to play down the implications of their defeat, claiming the ruling was a victory for clarity in the law.

The CPS admitted a wholesale review of all the cases against huntsmen from Somerset and Gloucestershire was under way, although it was considering appealing the latest decision in a judicial review with the House of Lords.

DSSH huntsman Donald Summersgill said everyone with the Exmoor hunt was delighted with the decision. He said: "We're delighted. We are innocent anyway but it makes it a lot easier for us to defend ourselves because they have got to prove our guilt, rather than us having to prove our innocence. We're over the moon with this decision and we will keep fighting."

Countryside Alliance spokesman Tim Bonner said: "The Hunting Act is dead in the water now. This should mean the prospect of the Hunting Act offences being prosecuted will be far lower in many cases.

"We would expect there to have to be overwhelming evidence of illegal hunting for a prosecution even to be launched."

A CPS spokesman confirmed the future of many prosecutions, including those against the DSS and one of the two against Julian Barnfield, the huntsman with the Heythrop hunt in Gloucestershire, was now being reviewed.

He said: "We will be studying the judgment very carefully to see if it should be appealed. We will also be monitoring any current cases carefully."

The League Against Cruel Sports, however, maintained that the outstanding cases that had been pending would now pass through the courts, and said it was rubbish that the law was now unenforceable.

LACS chief executive Douglas Batchelor said: "We are delighted the judgment has focused on the need for better enforcement of the Act and has set out clear guidelines for police forces to do this.

"There is absolutely no suggestion the law is unenforceable, in fact quite the opposite. We have said from the offset that the Act is clear but unfortunately the pro-hunting lobby has been unable to accept this.

"As far as the League is concerned it's business as usual and we will continue to work with the police and CPS to ensure the Act is fully enforced."