British hunters brought home in just one year the bodies of at least three African elephants they had shot, as well as scores of body parts from crocodiles, bears, lions, baboons, cheetahs and zebras, a wildlife campaign group has claimed.
In all, wealthy trophy-hunters reportedly imported into the UK 188 parts from 28 endangered or threatened species in 2023 – the year after Boris Johnson’s government dropped a proposed new ban on such imports.
Both Conservative and Labour election manifestos in 2019 and 2024 included pledges to introduce a ban, and the two main parties have been repeatedly accused of dithering, allowing British shooters to continue killing wild animals for fun.
The latest available data from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) shows that in 2023 hunting trophies imported into the UK included:
- three full bodies of African elephants, four tusks, four ears and four bones – representing at least five elephants in all
- 26 lion bodies, 21 giraffes and five zebra skins
- seven caracal cats, three leopards and two cougars
- two hippos and two scimitar oryx
- baboons and vervet monkeys
- parts from dozens of Crocodiles, Bears, civets, pythons, aardwolves, honey badgers and wild goats
The lions were captive-bred but nearly all the other animals were wild and shot in Africa, according to the Cites information, which is taken from permits and annual reports submitted by member countries and compiled into a database.
Several Canadian black bear parts were also imported, as well as one from Russia and one from Croatia.
Africa’s elephants are at risk of extinction, experts say, after nearly two-thirds disappeared over the past 60 years, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Numerous websites sell legal hunting holidays, and British wildlife hunters accounted for only around a tenth of the endangered species shot in 2023. Hunters from across the world took home nearly 1,800 giraffe body parts “trophies” that year.
Holidays to shoot endangered leopards are being sold online for up to £116,000, The Independent revealed last month.
Eduardo Goncalves, founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, is launching a documentary and three books on the subject, marking the tenth anniversary of the killing of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe, which prompted an outpouring of global anger.
The film, Britain’s Trophy Hunters, includes new footage from UK trophy-hunters’ homes, trophy rooms and South African hunting estates used by British clients.
Campaigners, backed by television star Chris Packham, say trophy-hunting is accelerating the loss of nature, and are intensifying calls on the UK government to deliver on Labour’s longstanding manifesto promise to ban hunting trophy imports.
Actress Dame Joanna Lumley said: “Goncalves destroys the myth that trophy-hunting is just a handful of Americans. He exposes Britain’s shameful role, and why the government must act now.”
A private member’s bill, by Conservative MP David Reed, banning trophy imports is due to have a second reading in the Commons on 11 July, and it’s understood the government will set out its position then, but private member’s bills rarely become law without government support.
Mr Goncalves has repeatedly called on the government to bring back a ban as a government bill.
A spokesperson for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “The government was elected on a mandate to ban the import of hunting trophies – that is exactly what we will do.”
