Trophy hunting Bill banning imports of sick souvenirs set for surprise comeback
Hopes are growing that a Bill banning trophy hunters bringing their sick souvenirs back to Britain can be revived.
Senior Labour backbencher John Spellar plans to reintroduce legislation which would block tourists returning home with vile prizes such as animal skins, severed heads and carcasses after shoots abroad. The Mirror revealed animal welfare campaigners’ fury this week at a British company selling reindeer shoots in Norway this Christmas.
Activists pointed out that if the Tories had delivered on a 2019 election manifesto promise, hunters would be banned from bringing dead reindeer’s antlers to Britain. Attempts to force a law onto the statute book were thwarted in the House of Lords during the autumn. Conservative peers, including some who support hunting, delivered a string of lengthy speeches as the clock ticked towards the debate’s deadline in September - meaning the Bill ran out of time.
Parliament is likely to get one more chance to pass the law before next year’s general election after former Defence Minister Mr Spellar came seventh in a backbench ballot to spearhead a Private Member’s Bill. He pledged to resurrect the Mirror-backed Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill which was passed by the Commons earlier this year before collapsing in the Upper Chamber.
He said: “It went through the Commons in the last session then it got held up by delaying tactics in the House of Lords, to the disgust of MPs and the public, who overwhelmingly support this Bill. We are putting it straight back to them and hope it will be law by the end of this Parliament.” He said the Government “clearly want this to move through”.
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Animal welfare campaigners welcomed the plan. Humane Society International’s senior campaigns Claire Bass said: “John Spellar's new Private Members' Bill is a second chance to get the crucial ban on imports of cruel hunting trophies done. MPs and the British people, who overwhelmingly back this ban, were bitterly let down after the last Bill was deliberately wrecked by a small handful of pro-hunting Lords. The Government committed to banning hunting trophy imports in its 2019 manifesto but time is running out to deliver on this promise to the public. We urge the Government to act quickly to finally stop these gruesome body parts from imperilled wild animals being brought into the UK.”
World Animal Protection’s UK campaigns director Peter Kemple Hardy said: “It is long overdue for the UK Government to do the right thing and bring back this important piece of legislation. The British public has made it clear that it wants no part of the brutal, senseless killing of wild animals for the entertainment of a cruel and wealthy few. By taking a stand and refusing to support this insidious industry, the UK has the opportunity to be part of a catalyst for change, to create an environment where wildlife-friendly conservation solutions - which have been starved of oxygen by a pro-hunting narrative, fixated on trophy hunting as the only answer - are invested in and explored. It is vital that this Bill is given the parliamentary time that it deserves.”
Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation co-founder Lorraine Platt welcomed the revived Bill to ban trophy hunting imports, which she branded “a horrific practice which future generations will look back on in disbelief”. She added: “By banning hunting trophies, we can send a strong message to the rest of the world that Great Britain does not tolerate the killing of iconic species such as rhinos, lions and elephants by a minority of individuals for recreation. In order to honour this critical manifesto commitment, we urge MPs and peers alike to support this new Bill so that Great Britain’s import of hunting trophies can be confined to the history books where it belongs.”
Shadow Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: “Hunting endangered animals is barbaric and must be confined to history. We must stop the selfish trophy hunters who want to slaughter then display endangered animals' body parts for their own perverse self-gratification.” He warned that if the Tories “refuse to act, they will be breaking yet another pre-election promise”, adding: “The next Labour Government will do the right thing and ban the sickening import of these trophies.”
However, opponents vowed to fight the plan. Oxford University’s professor of wildlife conservation, Amy Dickman, said: “The last Bill to ban trophy hunting imports faced intense opposition from conservation scientists, African governments and over 60 Lords. Trophy hunting doesn't threaten a single species with extinction, and reduces major threats like poaching. Undermining this important conservation revenue stream, with no better options on the table, will harm both local communities and wildlife. Until MPs realise that, opposition to the Bill will only intensify.”
Downing Street supported the previous version of the Bill. Asked how No10 planned to deliver the manifesto pledge, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ’s spokesman said: “We’re still discussing the right way forward for that.”
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