England bans import of hunting trophies

The British government wants to ban the import of hunting trophies from endangered animals.

The planned legislation is intended to prevent trophy hobby hunters from bringing body parts of 7,000 species — including lions, rhinos, elephants and polar bears — into England.

Two years of delay criticised

Animal welfare advocates welcomed the plans presented on 10 December 2021, but also said the step was long overdue. “The draft law appears to be in good shape, but it has now been two years since this was announced in the government’s Queen’s Speech, and many wild animals have been cruelly and needlessly killed since then”, said Eduardo Goncalves of the Ban Trophy Hunting campaign. By the time the law can be expected to come into force, an estimated further 100 animals will have been killed by trophy hobby hunters, the animal welfare advocate said.

Gonçalves said ministers had told him the bill could be introduced in parliament the following spring or summer.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said the measure was expected to be one of the toughest in the world, going beyond the commitment made in the government’s manifesto by covering not only endangered but also critically endangered species.

«We will take a leading role in protecting endangered animals and help strengthen and support their long-term conservation”, he said.

Up to five years in prison

The ban applies regardless of whether the trophy was taken from a wild animal or one bred in captivity specifically for trophy hunting. Hobby hunters who violate the regulations face up to five years in prison.

Boris Johnson has described trophy hunting as a “disgusting trade”, and his father, Stanley Johnson, has campaigned vigorously for a ban.

Rhinos on the brink of extinction

Animal welfare advocates are primarily concerned with species extinction. One example: Of the estimated 500,000 rhinoceroses at the beginning of the 20th century, only about 27,000 animals remain today in Asia and Africa, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The destruction of natural habitat and, above all, rampant poaching have pushed three of the five rhinoceros species to the brink of extinction. The animals' horns, which consist of keratin like human fingernails, are smuggled primarily to China and Vietnam. On the black market, they fetch peak prices of up to $60,000 per kilogram — more valuable than gold. They are regarded as a status symbol or ground into a fine powder and used as a supposed remedy for conditions such as cancer and for detoxification.