Trophy hunting can be traced back to the late 19th century.
Rowland Ward, a British taxidermist, created Horn Measurements and Weights of the Great Game of the World in 1892. This became the first official record for trophy hunts.
What is Trophy Hunting?
Trophy hunting is the hunting of wild animals for sport. Parts of the hunted wild animals are kept and displayed as trophies. Trophy hunters often come from rich countries and pay hundreds of thousands of pounds for their hunts.
One animal is killed every three minutes by blood-thirsty trophy hunters. In the past decade alone, more than 1.7 million animals, including endangered rhinos, lions, and elephants, have been slaughtered, with wealthy hunters competing to kill the most highly prized creatures.
Unfortunately, trophy hunting isn’t just a sick, twisted activity, it’s an enormous global industry that makes £300 million every year.
Trophy Hunting Endangered Species
In many countries, trophy hunting endangered species is legal. In South Africa, and many other countries in Africa, you can pay to kill the big five (elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion, and leopard). In Canada, it is legal to hunt polar bears.
Some individuals and organisations (such as Safari Club) argue that hunting is essential to conservation and wildlife management. However, trophy hunters are usually inexperienced individuals who kill animals for the photo at the end. Over 50% of animals murdered by trophy hunters are not killed instantly and often suffer for several days while they are relentlessly stalked and maimed.
Since the 1960s, over 50,000 polar bears have been murdered by trophy hunters. There are now only 23,000 left. Numbers of wild lions have fallen from almost 500,000 in the 1950s to less than 15,000 now. In 10 years, 10,000 leopards were killed by trophy hunters.
The UK and Trophy Hunting
The UK’s wealthy are not innocent. Thousands of Brits travel abroad to take part in this barbaric sport.
In the UK, the Houses of Parliament recently passed a ban of importing and trading wildlife trophies from 7,000 endangered and vulnerable species. However, this bill fell through in the House of Lords at the hands of 11 wealthy, privately educated peers (8 went to Eton).
In countries like France, Australia, and the Netherlands, it is illegal to import wildlife trophies. It is time that the UK followed in their footsteps.
Use your voice to urge our government to resurrect the bill: we don’t want the UK to be complicit in this cruel, brutal business.
