Stop the sell-off of nature

After the coronavirus-related cancellation of Europe's largest hunting fair "Jagd & Hund", the organisers plan to once again admit numerous providers of trophy hunting trips to the Dortmund Westfalenhallen in early 2022.

The shooting of rare species such as lions, elephants, rhinoceroses and polar bears as part of all-inclusive travel packages has now become a regular part of the offering there for wealthy individuals from the recreational hunting community. Five animal-friendly celebrities now want to stop this sell-off of nature and are turning to Dortmund's Lord Mayor Thomas Westphal and the factions in the city council: In a joint letter sent by PETA, Alexandra von Rehlingen, Sky du Mont, Tim Bengel, Ariane Sommer and Guido Maria Kretschmer call for offers of trophy hunting trips to be banned from the municipal exhibition halls.

„The very motivation of trophy hunters – the desire to kill the rarest possible animals – as well as the purely commercial interests of the providers, should already be reason enough to exclude such offers. But even the 'arguments' put forward by the hunting lobby in favour of trophy hunting do not stand up to scientific scrutiny. The claim that trophy hunting serves species conservation is completely absurd“, the letter states.

Backgroundinformation

As early as 2020, PETA and other organisations approached Dortmund's politicians. But the CDU and SPD do not want to ban offers for trophy hunting trips in the exhibition halls. Every year at "Jagd & Hund", over 150 exhibitors offer trophy hunting trips abroad. The hunting of endangered and protected species is advertised at the exhibition stands through price lists, special offers, hunting videos and photos of killed animals. As the sole shareholder of Westfalenhallen Unternehmensgruppe Dortmund GmbH, the City of Dortmund would have the decision-making authority to implement the demand for a ban on hunting trip offers.

In Africa alone, more than 18,000 people from various countries go big game hunting every year, killing more than 100,000 wild animals in the process. Germany is the world's third-largest importer of hunting trophies of internationally protected species: in 2020 alone, "trophies" from 543 rare animals were imported, including body parts from elephants, lions, rhinoceroses, polar bears and monkeys. Because trophy hunting cannot be justified under animal welfare and species protection law, some countries have already introduced import bans: in 2015, France became the first EU country to stop the import of lion trophies. In 2016, the Netherlands imposed an import ban on trophies of all protected animal species. Tour operators and hunting tourists claim that trophy hunting contributes to species conservation – this is absurd and does not withstand scientific scrutiny.