On Friday 25th November 2022, The Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) bill, aimed to ban the imports of hunting trophies from endangered and vulnerable species into the UK, passed its second reading in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, without any vote against it. Although the conservative government had promised this ban and dropped its promises several times, at the last minute it decided to support this Private Members Bill proposed by Henry Smith MP.
Eduardo Goncalves, founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, commented the following to Vegan FTA regarding this historic vote: “Friday’s outcome was a resounding vote for animals. It was quite extraordinary to see so many MPs from all parties queuing up to condemn trophy hunting and give their undiluted backing to the proposed ban.
This hopefully also marks the beginning of the end for the whole trophy hunting industry. Britain was very much the inventor and exporter of this terrible practice. The debate will have been heard loud and clear by those countries where trophy hunting is still allowed, many of which are either English-speaking or former UK colonies where British influence is still considerable.
The bill now moves to the House of Lords. I very much hope peers take note of the clear message coming from the elected House of Commons. Not one MP voted against the bill. A ban is supported by 9 out of 10 voters. It is also backed by the vast majority of the 44,000 experts, conservation groups, African leaders and individuals who took part in the government’s extensive public consultation.”
Thérèse Coffey, Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, said, “the public has voiced their concern at the thought of hunters bringing back trophies. That is why the Government made a manifesto commitment to ban this and has supported Henry Smith’s Bill. The ban will be one of the toughest in the world, cracking down on imports of horns, furs, tusks and other features of animals.”
