SOUTH Dorset MP Jim Knight has been targeted by hunt supporters who are taking their protests to the ballot box.

The Working Hound Defence Campaign (WHDC) is recruiting volunteers to crusade against sitting MPs in marginal seats who have thrown their weight behind the Government's proposed hunting ban.

The WHDC website has launched the VoteHunting initiative, which lists Mr Knight as one of 'the enemy'.

It reads: "The Government has declared war on the hunting community. We therefore have no alternative but to seek, by democratic means, to unseat enough anti-hunting MPs to give us a House of Commons which is prepared to leave our way of life alone."

The website says: "We're looking for campaign volunteers for all political parties.

"We'll be targeting marginal seats, mainly where the sitting MP is strongly 'anti'.

"In each target seat we'll be backing the candidate who stands the best chance of beating the sitting MP, regardless of party.

"We'll only support candidates who are either pro-hunting or neutral."

Mr Knight welcomed the move as a break from current tactics employed by the hunt protesters, who recently forced rural affairs minister Alun Michael to pull out of launching the World Heritage Coast Trust in Weymouth.

He said: "We have seen riots at Westminster and carcasses dumped on the streets in Brighton - that sort of disruption of people going about legitimate activities is regrettable, when there is the option of using the ballot box.

"We live in a democracy, and that's why I welcome this decision by the WHDC to campaign at the general election.

"I would hope people who support a ban on hunting will also campaign to see it through.

"I have always voted for a ban - I do not support animals being hunted for sport.

"I understand there are issues in respect of the countryside and economy, and I think we can deal with that.

"It is an issue that needs resolving because people feel passionately about it."

Joint Master of the South Dorset Hunt, Major Reg Hanbury, also sits on the Dorset Countryside Alliance Committee and confirmed there was support for the VoteHunting scheme.

He said: "The Countryside Alliance is not involved because it is a non-party political organisation.

"But many Countryside Alliance members, in their day-to-day lives, will try very hard to get anti-hunting MPs defeated at the next election - particularly in South Dorset, because Jim Knight is anti-hunting."