Ruth Edwards has been in Parliament today to support the Hunting Trophies Bill.
The Bill will ban people from importing the carcasses or body parts of endangered animals that have been killed for sport into Britain.
The list of species to be protected by the bill includes elephants, big cats, primates, and many others with provisions to add to the list to ensure that the law remains comprehensive and effective.
Britain is a nation of animal lovers, and many couldn’t imagine travelling to a foreign country to shoot and kill an endangered animal, much less pay to make a ‘trophy’ of its body parts.
When the Government asked the public what they thought about trophy hunting, 85% of the 44,000 responses called for action to crack down on the practice.
However, between 2000 and 2020, 5,915 “trophies” were imported into the UK, including 646 bears, 747 big cats and a staggering 2,194 Elephants.
Ruth is committed to animal welfare and has her own menagerie of alpacas, donkeys, chickens and the latest arrival, Clemmie the Labrador. She has also carried this into her work by successfully campaigning for tougher action on animal cruelty and hare coursing as well as making pet theft its own criminal offence.
Ruth said “I am so happy that so many MPs from all parties supported this fantastic bill. Trophy hunting is a barbaric and cruel practice, we should be doing all we can to save and protect these majestic and endangered animals.
“Through the Hunting Trophies Bill, we can set an example and show our principles to the world. That nature, conservation and animal lives are important, and we should do all we can to protect them.”
The Bill has now proceeded into the House of Lords and is expected to become law later this year.
The Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill is a Private Members Bill introduced by
Conservative MP, Henry Smith and was formally supported by the Government.
