Dame Joanna Lumley, Sir David Attenborough, Peter Egan and Rod Stewart, among other celebrities, are imploring MPs to participate in a crucial private members bill to ban UK imports of trophy hunting kills in Parliament on 17th March 2023. The bill currently has strong cross-party support and mass public engagement.
Sally’s Law, the bill named after the tiger cub safely rescued from trophy hunting in South Africa during a private investigation by Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting in 2022, is scheduled for its Report Stage and Third Reading on March 17th, and aims to end British hunters bringing home the bodies of endangered species shot for ‘sport’.
Hundreds of endangered animals including lions, elephants, giraffes, and polar bears are hunted by British trophy hunters every year, and the current legislation permits these hunters to import the remains of these animals into the UK for taxidermy and trophy display in their homes.
Over the past four decades, British hunters have brought home approximately 5,000 trophies of animals classed as endangered by CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
National treasure Dame Joanna Lumley said: “I have always considered trophy hunting the lowest of the low: contemptible, hollow triumphalism which we would laugh to scorn if the consequences weren’t so utterly grim and cruel. Killing animals for fun is just disgusting.”
Sir David Attenborough noted: “For species such as elephants and rhinos to be fighting for their existence due to human exploitation and interference is unacceptable, and we must do everything within our power to turn this dire situation around. We are responsible for the problem, and we must be held responsible for the solution. It will indeed be a very sad indictment on our species if rhinos and elephants are no more, and that day will come sooner than we think if we do not take action.”
The Private Members Bill, tabled by Henry Smith, Conservative MP for Crawley, has the support of both the government and opposition MPs. A new poll conducted by research company Survation reveals that over 80% of the public thought MPs should attend the House of Commons to enact this ban, with nine out of ten Conservative, Liberal Democrats, and SNP/PC/DUP voters saying their MP should be there and should vote for the ban, and eight out of ten for Labour. If passed, it will be the toughest ban implemented by any government in the world.
The Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting was set up in 2018 by Eduardo Goncalves, former WWF International Director Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud, legendary explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes OBE, and actor and leading animal advocate, Peter Egan, and to date, has garnered cross-party support, and endorsement by big celebrity names including Dame Joanna Lumley, Dame Judi Dench and Ricky Gervais.
Encourage your local constituent or MP to back this bill ahead of the March 17th vote by entering your postcode here to send an automatic message to your local MP, asking them to attend the vote and seal this proposed change into law.
