It is right that legislation reflects our position as a nation of animal lovers. One issue which Crawley residents have continued to contact me about over the years is the need for action on trophy hunting.
The Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill which I introduced in Parliament would seek to disincentivise animal cruelty by banning British hunters from bringing their ‘trophies’ of endangered and vulnerable animals into Britain.
Figures from CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) have showed that the number of hunting trophies arriving in Britain have risen dramatically over recent years, with more than ten times as many hunting trophies having entered this country than during the 1980s, with the amount of elephant ivory increasing five-fold; some 2,000 trophies and over a ton of elephant ivory have been brought back to the UK by hunters this last decade.
The Bill would be the strongest of its kind in the world. In addition to support from Government my legislation is also being backed by a range of wildlife and animal welfare groups, not to mention public figures including Steve Backshall, Damian Aspinall and Dr Jane Goodall.
At the last General Election I stood on a Conservative manifesto which committed to ‘bring the ivory ban into force and extend it to cover other ivory-bearing species, and ban imports from trophy hunting of endangered animals.’
Trophy hunting is frankly barbaric and it is right that a ban has support across the House of Commons.
Our wildlife faces an extinction emergency. We have to support conservation and put a stop to these horrendous activities.
There are species which are under an increasing threat of extinction. African elephants have recently been upgraded to Endangered on the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red List.
The number of lions has dropped from some 200,000 half a century ago to 20,000 today. In recent years, British hunters have brought home the heads, bodies and skins of animals including polar bears, rhinos, cheetahs, giraffes and monkeys.
In Parliament I have continued to highlight issues relating to animal welfare on behalf of local residents, including leading the successful campaign to introduce mandatory CCTV in all slaughterhouses.
In recent years we have seen Government ensure the introduction of animal sentience into UK law, in addition to measures which raise the maximum sentence for animal cruelty from six months to five years.
I will continue to pursue these issues on behalf of Crawley residents in the House of Commons as well as through my work as a Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare and a Patron of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation.
Henry Smith MP
