The Rt Hon Rory Stewart MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs

Nobel House

17 Smith Square

London

SW1P 3JR

Dear Rory,

I am writing on behalf of a number of my constituents regarding hunting trophies from threatened or endangered species. 

A recent report published by IFAW demonstrates the scale of the problem. The ‘Killing for Trophies’ report shows that as many as 1.7 million hunting trophies may have been traded between nations between 2004 and 2014, and of these at least 200,000 are trophies from threatened taxa. A ban on imports of hunting trophies could help prevent the cruelty that many animals have to suffer, as well as help protect threatened species.

The Netherlands have already shown strong leadership within the EU on this issue, announcing in April 2016 that they would ban the import of 200 hunted trophy species. This is especially significant given that the IFAW report shows that 107 different nations participated in the trophy hunting trade between 2004 and 2014, but just 20 countries were responsible for 97% of the imports, with the USA as the top importer, followed by the EU. A UK ban would send a strong signal to the EU and potentially have a dramatic impact on the trophy hunting trade.

I would be grateful for your response to the IFAW report and any information about the UK Government’s position on banning imports of hunting trophies from threatened animals.

Yours sincerely,