Footage has emerged in Britain which appears to show fox cubs being put into the kennels of hounds allegedly to train them to hunt and kill the animals.

Filmed by Britain's Hunt Investigation Team supported by the League Against Cruel Sports, an individual can be seen carrying a fox cub into a barn where hounds are kennelled and barking, and later disposing of a dead fox in a wheelie bin before another is taken in.

Animal rights campaigners claim the video is evidence of "cubbing", the practice of using cubs to train hounds to hunt and kill foxes.

Three people have been arrested and released on police bail - and an independent investigation has been launched into the South Herefordshire Hunt.

Hunting foxes with packs of hounds has been banned since 2004, with hunts now allowed to participate in "drag hunting" where an artificial scent is laid for the hounds to track.

The Master of Fox Hounds Association, which regulates and represents hunts around the UK, said it had launched the inquiry "into conduct which suggests breaches of the association's rules".

It said two members of staff had been suspended and the kennels were currently closed.

"The South Herefordshire hounds are being looked after by other hunts which are members of the association," it added.

The probe will be chaired by former UK Appeal Court judge John Chadwick Bill Andrewes, an experienced former Master and Hunt chairman, and Pauline Tolhurst, a practising veterinary surgeon.

Chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, Eduardo Goncalves, said: "The hounds won't naturally kill foxes so they must be taught to do so and this footage exposes the gruesome training secrets of hunts in the UK."

West Mercia Police said a 37-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman, both from Hereford, and a 37-year-old man from Abergavenny, were arrested on suspicion of causing suffering to animals and bailed until August.