TRADITION: A child’s face is covered with the blood of his first kill

SPAIN’S leading animal rights group has berated the ‘dark world’ of private hunts, where children as young as 10 have their faces smeared with blood.

PACMA’s issue is with the practice of painting children’s faces with the blood of their first kill.

Many of Spain’s autonomous communities take part in the tradition of hunting small mammals, and while some regions prohibit such activity, most are legal.

The group’s president, Silvia Barquero said: “It seems terrible to educate children in violence and introduce them from a young age into this dark world.

“I would never teach my children to act with violence and to kill animals, because it is completely contrary to educational values and moral progress.”

 Left: KILLER- A young child poses with a bloodied knife after killing a boar

It comes as a 13-year-old boy was accidentally shot dead on a hunt in Valladolid in October and this month dogs were videoed falling off a cliff while on a hunt.

Barquero is particularly shocked by the social media groups – such as Facebook’s Rehalas Finca Soriana – that share pictures of the bloody traditions involving children.

“What kind of society are we building when we allow children to participate in animal abuse?” he said.