British hunters still killing endangered wildlife abroad despite public outrage, new documentary reveals

Local TV

Ten years after Cecil the Lion’s death, campaigners say trophy hunting by UK citizens remains widespread. The film uncovers how endangered animals including elephants, giraffes and lions are shot and stuffed, as the public demands a total ban on trophy imports.

Transcript

00:00I think a lot of people thought it was a one-off, that it was just maybe something done every

00:05now and again by Americans.

00:08And what the documentary and indeed the books that go with it show that firstly, it's a

00:12massive industry.

00:13So since Cecil was killed in 2015, 10,000 more lions have been shot by trophy hunters.

00:20And indeed, tens of thousands of endangered animals are shot every year by trophy hunters.

00:24And it also shows that British people are shooting lions.

00:28They're shooting elephants, giraffes, cheetahs, leopards, et cetera.

00:32So some of the most endangered animals in the world.

00:36Now, some trophy hunters are killing literally hundreds of animals.

00:40Indeed, in some cases, thousands.

00:42Indeed, there was one British man that we met.

00:45He had 500 trophies.

00:47And we also found that there are British companies that are selling these trophy hunting package

00:52holidays where you can shoot 10, 20 animals.

00:56Some of the most endangered animals like lions and elephants.

01:00Well, public opinion is certainly against this sort of behaviour, but it continues.

01:04What does that tell us about the current system?

01:08It's very interesting that since the story of Cecil came out, there have been a lot of moves

01:15to try to stop trophy hunting.

01:18And indeed, several countries in Europe have gone ahead and implemented bans on hunting trophies.

01:24And indeed, in 2015, the British government, Liz Truss and then Rory Stewart, who are the

01:29different ministers, they said they would ban lion trophies.

01:32And then the Conservative government in 2019 said it would do a comprehensive ban.

01:38And yet here we are still, you know, 10 years after Cecil.

01:41And we still have the situation of not having a ban, despite the fact that public opinion

01:46is absolutely behind a ban.

01:48And indeed, virtually all parties are behind a ban as well.

01:52So what action are you calling for right now?

01:55So we want the government to implement an immediate moratorium on imports of hunting trophies of

02:01endangered species.

02:03It is absolutely unthinkable that we're still allowing British people to shoot cheetahs for

02:08fun and bring their bodies home when there's only six and a half thousand cheetahs left in

02:12the world and they're Africa's most endangered big cat.

02:15Similarly, African elephants are now considered as endangered by IUCN, the World Conservation

02:20Body.

02:20And yet British hunters are still bringing home their bodies, their skins, their tusks,

02:24even their ears and feet and so on and so forth.

02:27This is something that the government can do right now, today.

02:30It's exactly what many European countries have done, in fact.

02:33So there's no reason why we can't just go ahead.

02:37Opinion poll after opinion poll suggests that the British public are massively against this

02:42sort of hunting.

02:42Do you think legislation should go further to prosecute British citizens who kill endangered

02:48animals when they're abroad?

02:50There is, in fact, already a bill that's been written by DEFRA, the Environment Ministry,

02:55and indeed the government was going to bring it forward in the last parliamentary session.

03:00But then it said it ran out of time and it asked a backbencher, the Conservative MP for

03:04Crawley, Henry Smith, to take it forward.

03:06And indeed it passed in the House of Commons unanimously.

03:10And it was only when it got to the Lords that it was held up by a couple of unelected peers.

03:17And then it came back to the Commons.

03:19Again, it passed unanimously.

03:20And then we ran out of time because the general election was called.

03:24So there is already a ready-made bill that's there that can be brought to the House straight

03:29away.

03:30Now, some would argue that trophy hunting supports conservation and also local jobs.

03:35How do you respond to that argument?

03:37Trophy hunting does very little for conservation and it supports very, very few jobs.

03:42So if you look, for example, at Tanzania and Kenya, which are side by side and have many

03:47of the same populations of wildlife, very, very little money goes towards conservation

03:52in Tanzania.

03:53Whereas in Kenya, 15% of the country's GDP is now as a result of photo safaris.

04:01And it's now the one country in Africa where lion populations are going up, elephant populations

04:06are going up, and black and white rhino populations are going up too.

04:09The Labour government pledged to ban hunting trophy imports, but a year on, no legislation

04:15has been introduced.

04:16Ministers say a wider animal welfare strategy is on the way, but campaigners argue progress

04:22has stalled.

04:23For now, the promised ban remains on hold, with no date confirmed for when it might return

04:29to Parliament.

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