Trophy hunters are finding it increasingly difficult to legally bring animal parts back to their home country, as more and more nations place stricter bans on the practice. Now, the UK is set to impose the strictest laws yet, prohibiting hunters from bringing back endangered animal parts from Africa, as well as banning the import of exotic furs and rugs.
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UK to Introduce Strictest Trophy Hunting Ban Yet
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s partner, Carrie Symonds, has campaigned against the issue and played a large role in the ban. “A trophy is meant to be a prize,” she said in a public speech. “Something you’re awarded if you’ve achieved something of merit that requires great skill and talent. Trophy hunting is not that. It is the opposite of that. It is cruel, it is sick, it is cowardly, and I will never, ever understand the motivation to do it.”
The ban applies to all animals listed on the Cites Appendix I and II lists, as well as animals on the IUCN list. It is expected to go into effect next week after the Conservative Party Conference.
Zac Goldsmith, the minister for international wildlife, called the practice of trophy hunting “morally indefensible,” adding that “by placing a higher value on animals alive rather than dead, we will begin to turn back the tide of extinction.”
Ministers are aiming to end live animal exports, which sees large numbers of livestock transported long distances in cramped and hot conditions. Instead, they will be killed at the nearest slaughterhouse. 