The Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation urges Peers to support the Government to deliver its manifesto commitment and reject all amendments.
The commitment to ban trophy hunting imports was included in both the Conservative Manifesto 2019 and Defra’s world-leading Action Plan for Animal Welfare published in 2021.
In March last year, polling showed overwhelming support for the policy of banning trophy-hunting imports. Amongst voters polled, 86% agreed that the UK Government should ban trophy hunters from bringing back trophies of hunted animals as soon as possible, and amongst Conservative voters, this was 92%. You can read the full briefing here.
The Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill passed its Second Reading in the House of Lords in June.
This followed the passage of the Bill through the House of Commons which had its First Reading in June 2022 in the House of Commons.
Throughout its passage through the House of Commons, it has received strong support from all political parties.
Baroness Fookes said in her speech:
“Those who watch the wonderful wildlife films we now see and have access to the much greater information that science has provided about the wonderful interrelationship of animals and the threats that greatly interfere with it, will wonder why anyone should want to bring back trophies of slaughtered animals that, let us face it, are in grave danger. In this Bill, we are not dealing with animals that are plentiful. However small a part the Bill may play, we have to try to ensure the conservation of these precious species.”
A number of other supportive Peers spoke in favour of ending trophy-hunting imports, including Lord Selkirk, Baroness Sanderson, Lord Rennard, and Baroness Jones of Whitchurch.
In June, our Patron Henry Smith MP published a comment piece on his Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill in Conservative Home, which can be read here.
In his piece, he wrote: “Generations to come will look back in disbelief at the treatment of majestic animals like elephants, lions, and rhinos which need our protection now more than ever. With global wildlife on the decline, we must send a strong message to those who seek to destroy it.”
Lorraine Platt, Co-Founder of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, comments:
“We urge Peers to fully support the Bill at its Committee Stage and reject amendments. The democratic mandate to end our role in this cruel trade is significant; the Bill delivers on a key Conservative Manifesto commitment and a pledge in Defra’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare. It is also incredibly popular with the British public, who have time and again sent a clear message in polling that there is no place for trophy hunting imports in the 21st century.”
