More than a thousand hours have been spent policing the fox-hunting ban - and not one prosecution has been made.

Figures released to The Argus by Sussex Police under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the equivalent of 1,300 hours' policing has been lost to dealing with the ban in its first 12 months.

The force has received only two complaints from members of the public and no prosecution has taken place under the Hunting Act since it was introduced in February last year.

Christopher Wysock Wright, South-East chairman of the Countryside Alliance, said: "Hunts are now hunting legally and every hunt lets the police know when it is meeting and where.

"If they want to attend, they attend.

"But our view is there has been less police intervention since the ban came into force.

"The only time they have been called out in Sussex is when animal activists have trespassed on private land."

Nigel Yeo, Assistant Chief Constable of Sussex Police, said the majority of time had been spent on ensuring safety rather than policing breaches of the new laws.

Seven men have been charged with violent disorder following an attack on a hunter during the East Sussex and Romney Marsh Hunt, two weeks ago.

Mr Yeo said: "The safety of people in the countryside - whether that be people monitoring hunting, engaged in hunting or neither - has to be the priority of the police."

Simon Wild, of the West Sussex Wildlife Protection Group, said he had twice called police out for breaches of the Hunting Act.

In one incident he claims a fox was chased into a pensioner's garden in Southwater.

Hounds then caught the fox and killed it in front of a small child, he said.

Police are allowed to enter private land and seize items connected with illegal hunting but not to automatically access sites to watch or monitor a hunt.

Mr Wild told The Argus: "I'm sure the police have spent 1,300 hours at hunts but they haven't spent a single minute looking at them to see if the Hunting Act is being enforced or not.

"The only reason they are at fox hunts is to record public order offences."

The Hunting Act made it illegal to hunt any wild animals with dogs in Britain.

However, hounds are allowed to follow a scent and can be used to flush out a fox. A fox can then legally be killed by a bird of prey or shot, if only two dogs are involved.

Monitors try to video hunts to check how they are being conducted.

A spokesman for the League Against Cruel Sports said: "It's the law of the land passed by a significant majority and no different from any other law - it has to be policed.

"Some people have argued that because there have been no prosecutions that shows it is a waste of time policing it but that's the most ridiculous argument of all.

"If you police, you are likely to prevent the crime. Unfortunately it is necessary."

There are six hunts which ride out in Sussex. Susie Setterfield, spokeswoman for the Countryside Alliance in the South-East, said there were roughly 100 subscribed members and upwards of 200 foot followers for each hunt, meaning at least 1,800 people regularly go out with hunts in Sussex.

Jim Chilvers, 93, of Springwood Road, Heathfield, said: "I think it's ridiculous, absolutely incredible to think the police are spending that amount of time policing fox hunts. If you add that to the paperwork they have to do it's no wonder they are not around on the streets.

"They are still fox-hunting, just pretending not to, but you now have hundreds of police standing around. It's a tremendous waste of police time."

Paddy Henry, of Mid Sussex District Council, said: "It's a barbaric sport but I wonder how many foxes are actually killed, and how you can police it?

"When you look at some of the crimes that go on in Sussex, with drugs and violence, what are the police doing cavorting around the countryside trying to tell if a fox is being killed?"