Trophy Hunting Imports (let’s speed up the ban)
Here’s something to shock you. Did you know that England still allows imports of beautiful wild creatures that are shot for fun abroad, so people can just stick their heads on the wall?
There was outcry over the killing of Cecil the lion, a few years back. But since then, British hunters have killed over 60 more lions. And the man who shot him has also shot dead one of the world’s rarest sheep.
Why Are Trophy Hunting Imports Not Banned?
A Bill has been going through Parliament for a long time, but still isn’t law. Critics say it’s because some (unelected) peers in the House of Lords keep delaying it, by muttering on about the drawbacks, trying to prevent it becoming law.
Abroad, things are even worse. Even though Donald Trump does not hunt himself, his two sons do (there’s a photo online of them smiling, holding up a dead leopard and the tail of a beautiful elephant they shot – no doubt the whole herd is still mourning the loss, including the baby elephants that rely on the females).
So he has relaxed the laws, to allow his sons and others to import body parts.
What is Trophy Hunting?
It is also called ‘canned hunting’. Where basically the animals are in an enclosed area where they can’t escape and are either killed by guns (Cecil was shot with an arrow and took hours to die). The animals don’t stand a chance, and the hunters pay thousands to fly out and shoot these beautiful creatures, simply for fun.
Ornithologist Hamza Yassin says ‘If hunting is a sport, let the animal have a rifle as well, and let it fire back at you’.
In January 2026, a Trump official warned the UK government not to ban trophy hunting. Born Free has a petition for people to sign to ‘get the ban done’, as it is now over 10 years since Cecil died.
The brutal senseless killing of Cecil shocked and enraged the world. Now ten years on, I am just as shocked that successive governments have failed to keep their promise to the British people and make it illegal for hunters to bring their spoils from this so-called sport to the UK.
Trophy hunting is driving endangered species to extinction, and we need to play our part in bringing that to an end. Cecil had a right to life, as all wild animals do. Show you stand with Born Free. Cecil’s death cannot be in vain. Joanna Lumley
