Furious animal rights activists have shamed a group of hunters who posed for trophy pictures with the blooded bodies of foxes and wild boars.

After the bloodbath the hunters boasted about clearing the area near Madrid, Spain, of “vermin”.

One grim image shows the grinning hunters standing behind a display 20 shot foxes and two wild boars.

Another gruesome snap, taken on 29th October, shows 19 fox bodies draped over a fallen tree trunk on what appears to be farmland.

The images show that the gunmen killed both adult foxes and their cubs.

Local media reports that the unidentified hunters bragged that they had “cleared the area of vermin” and sickenly described the bloodbath as a “fun and satisfying feat.”

The act sparked fury from animal rights organisation PACMA (Partido Animalista Con el Medio Ambiente), which condemned the shoot as a “cruel and merciless reality”.

PACMA president Javier Luna said foxes are “harassed inside their dens by Jack Terrier dogs, which bite and shake them, culminating in shots fired by hunters.”

He said: “It is a cruel and ruthless reality that they rarely share with people other than hunters because of how unpleasant it is.”

The organisation said hunters will slaughter foxes, but then offer to help control rabbit ‘plagues’ because there are now too few predators for keep numbers down.

Luna said: “It is a contradiction that those who contribute to decimating the fox population then offer to eliminate one of their main prey under the pretext of controlling their population because it’s increasing.

“This irresponsible attitude towards biodiversity shows a lack of environmental awareness and a worrying indifference towards ecosystem balance, in addition to being extremely cruel.”

PACMA said hunting “only contributes to the deterioration of wildlife and flora and fauna”.

Luna added: “It is essential to adopt measures that promote peaceful coexistence with wildlife, respecting their role in the balance of nature.”

Yolanda Morales, spokesperson for PACMA, said: “It makes no sense to continue allowing hunting in Spain, neither as a sport due to its cruelty, nor as a method of population control due to its inefficiency.

“Hunting has historically been a guarantor of ecosystem deterioration and today it is only maintained for pleasure.”

The latest Forest Statistics Yearbook from the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge shows 76,109 foxes were killed in Spain in 2020 alone.