Trophy Hunting

Witnessing an animal in its natural environment is a breath-taking experience. On ethical safari you can often find elephants, buffalo and giraffe sharing a waterhole in peace, lions basking in the sun whilst a leopard seeks the shade of a nearby tree, and if you’re lucky you may even spot a rhino. Sadly, what sounds like a tranquil once in a lifetime experience for you and I is merely a playing field for hunters to choose their target.  

Each year, hunters from the UK travel to Africa to participate in ‘trophy hunting’, bringing home the dead animals to display as trophies and souvenirs on their walls. Unfortunately, many who partake in this ‘sport’ are inexperienced hunters, and thus cause the animals excruciating pain and an agonizing death through an inaccurate gunshot. For bragging rights, trophy hunters seek to kill the most impressive animals in the group, namely the largest breeding-size males. Bull elephants with the biggest tusks and large lions with dark manes like Cecil are the preferred targets.  

These animals’ deaths create a severe disruption in the social structure and survival of the group, along with the loss of genetic material that's vital to the healthy continuation of the species. As threatened and endangered species, the survival of these individual animals is vital. According to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), almost 1,500 trophy items from CITES-listed species have been imported into the UK between 2014-2023. Teeth, claws, pelts, heads or entire bodies of defenceless animals, slaughtered for the thrill of this so-called ‘sport’. 

Supporters of trophy hunting proclaim their activities support conservation. Yet, despite the extravagant fees hunters pay to bring home a prized trophy – with hunts ranging from £17,300 to over £51,250 for an African lion – there is no legitimate evidence that money trickles down past unstable governments or corrupt officials to create viable conservation efforts on the ground. Even without corruption, studies have shown that the amount of money generated by trophy hunting pales in comparison to the amount of money brought into countries through tourism and wildlife watching. 

Missing the Mark, a 2016 report released by the US Democratic staff of the House Committee on Natural Resources, examined the trophy hunting of the ‘Big 5’ in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, South Africa and Namibia. It found “many troubling examples of funds either being diverted from their purpose or not being dedicated to conservation on the first place,” and concluded that “corruption within governments or organizations can prevent trophy hunting revenues from funding conservation activities and can even lead to the mismanagement of hunted populations”. 

In 2020, we asked the FOUR PAWS community to share their thoughts on trophy hunting with 1,400 responses. Unsurprisingly, 99% of those who voted supported a ban on trophy hunting exports of the UK, and 98% of those who voted view trophy hunting as a sport for human enjoyment, as opposed to a population management technique. 

FOUR PAWS UK is calling for a ban of trophy hunting imports and exports into the UK to help put a stop to this cruel and barbaric practice. Britain is a significant transit point for the shipment of trophies from the country of origin en route to a third country, hence why a ban on imports and exports would be a powerful step to disrupting this trade. 

We want to see a total ban on the import and export of hunting trophies into the UK, with no loopholes that may assist in the covert trade of animal parts.    

We will fight against any pro-trophy hunting amendments, such as a ‘conservation enhancement exemption’. This would allow UK trophy hunters to import the parts of critically endangered species like the black rhino, arguing that the money used to fund the hunt promotes the conservation of the species.   

We will demand that captive bred animals, such as those in the canned hunting industry, are not left behind. More than 8,000 captive-bred lions are kept in more than 250 breeding facilities in South Africa, and we cannot allow the UK to be complicit any longer.   

To kill a lion that cannot escape and has been hand-reared and taught to trust humans is not a sport, it is a slaughter. You can read more about our work to end big cat farming in South Africa through our Vicious Cycle Report.  

Despite more than 80% of the British public supporting a ban on trophy hunting imports, CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) data indicates a worrying upturn in the import of hunting trophies into the UK. Disturbingly, the number of lions imported into the UK has also increased. Just two were imported in 2022, and this grew to 28 in 2023.  

In 2021, the Government promised to introduce one of the toughest bans on hunting trophy imports in the world, encompassing nearly 7,000 endangered and threatened species.    

Six months later, Henry Smith MP for Crawley tabled a government-backed Private Member’s Bill: The Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill.  

After campaigning for a ban on the import of hunting trophies for years, the Trophy Hunting (Import Prohibition) Bill successfully passed through all stages in the House of Commons, going on to be debated in the House of Lords in late summer 2023.  

However, the Bill was sadly dropped in October 2023 after being held hostage in the House of Lords at Committee Stage by a handful of pro-hunting Peers. 

A new iteration of the Bill was introduced by John Spellar MP, also successfully completed its Second Reading in the House of Commons and secured Government backing but fell when the General Election was called.  

In July 2025, we marked the 10-year anniversary of Cecil the lion’s death with an event for Parliamentarians to reignite the flame of action and to remind the Government of their promise to end the UK’s involvement in trophy hunting. Now, we must urgently secure parliamentary time for a new version of the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill and ensure it passes through all stages of Parliament both unattested and as quickly as possible. 

A 2024 report supported by FOUR PAWS has busted 14 of the biggest myths put forward by the trophy hunting industry. The powerful report, which is also supported by Born Free, Jane Goodall Institute, Pro Wildlife and the African Sanctuary Alliance can be read here.