A British ban on imports of hunting trophies is long overdue | Letters

Regarding Cal Flyn’s article (On the trail with the hunters who believe shooting big game can save Africa’s wildlife, 21 April), I spent several years undercover in the trophy‑hunting industry, engaging with hunters and CEOs of hunting companies. I wanted to understand their motivations and whether wildlife conservation was one of them. It wasn’t. The primary driver was most succinctly expressed by a Sussex man who had shot lions, elephants and a critically endangered black rhinoceros: “It’s like mainlining on heroin.” Since 2020, giraffes have become a favoured souvenir of the globe-trotting British hunter. Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch both agree on banning trophy-hunting imports, as does virtually every party. Given such unprecedented political consensus, why isn’t this on the statute book? The answer is that a private member’s bill passed the Commons unanimously in 2023, only to be subsequently thwarted by a dozen unelected, pro-hunting Lords. As the Guardian reported, the US gun lobby spent more than £1m to block the bill. Last week, I met ministers and officials, and learned that the government will not now be announcing a bill in next month’s king’s speech, despite Labour’s manifesto promising one. This will disappoint all those who recall its pre-election exhortation: “A vote for Labour is a vote for animals.” Sir David Attenborough once said of trophy hunting: “It’s what people did in the 19th century. One would have thought people would have got over that. But apparently there are still people who get a kick out of killing things … which is something I find incomprehensible.” As do eight out of 10 UK voters. It has been more than 10 years since Cecil the lion was gunned down by an American dentist in Zimbabwe. In that time, 10,000 lions have been shot by trophy hunters – many of them British. Optimistic estimates place Africa’s remaining lion population at 23,000. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs drafted its trophy import prohibition bill three years ago. Surely it is time for a government in search of popular and progressive policies to bring it to parliament? Eduardo Gonçalves Founder, Ban Trophy Hunting • Your article exposes the myth at the heart of trophy hunting: that killing animals can somehow save them. Trophy hunting is not conservation. It is cruelty dressed up in moral language, disguised as environmental concern. Killing wildlife does nothing to preserve ecosystems. It destabilises fragile populations, disrupts social structures and undermines non-lethal conservation efforts that have proved effective when habitats are properly maintained and human interference is reduced. Claims that trophy hunting funds conservation collapse under scrutiny. An in-depth independent study across several African nations found that nature‑based tourism, including photo safaris, played a significant role in national development, but trophy hunting accounted for just 1.8% of tourism revenue. Trophy hunting is deeply neocolonial. Wealthy outsiders arrive to kill animals, exporting body parts as souvenirs of domination while communities shoulder the ecological and moral cost. True conservation rejects domination and embraces coexistence through habitat protection, non-lethal conflict mitigation and respect for all species. Animals are not tools for pleasure. They are thinking, feeling individuals that deserve to live free from human arrogance and harm. Blair Patrick Schuyler Research specialist in hunting and wildlife issues, Peta • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.