POLICE were trying to find out yesterday if animal rights protesters were behind a bomb planted on hunting land. The sophisticated device was loaded with 500 metal nuts to act as shrapnel and was fitted with a timer to set it off. It was discovered on a wall by a gamekeeper on farmland in Syreford, Gloucestershire. The device was dismantled by Army bomb disposal experts and is being examined by explosives scientists.

Supt Adrian Grimmitt said: "The land is used by the Cotswold Hunt, who were going to exercise their hounds there this weekend. One of the theories is that the device was to give the maker some indication as to the blasting effects if it went off."