Celebrities together with Dame Joanna Lumley and Ricky Gervais are demanding a trophy looking imports ban.
Ricky Gervais and Dame Joanna Lumley are calling for a trophy looking imports ban (Picture: Animal Information Company)
Sir Keir Starmer is going through contemporary strain to ban “sick” trophy looking imports after it emerged that giraffes are the most well-liked amongst British hunters. New analysis has discovered that hunters from the UK introduced again 118 physique components from giraffes they’d killed overseas, together with bones and toes, between 2020 and 2024.
Nationwide treasure Dame Joanna Lumley stated the Authorities “ought to dangle its head in disgrace”, whereas comic Ricky Gervais branded it “a criminal offense in opposition to nature”. Labour pledged to ban trophy looking imports in its 2024 manifesto however the promise is but to be delivered.
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Dame Joanna stated: “It’s heartbreaking and admittedly shameful that, these days, magnificent creatures resembling giraffes are nonetheless being gunned down simply so their heads, our bodies and skins may be displayed as triumphant trophies. These animals belong within the wild, not in somebody’s sitting room.
Learn extra: 1000’s signal new petition calling for ban on trophy looking imports
“Giraffes are such extraordinary, elegant animals who hurt nobody and have a proper to reside in security, simply as people do. They’re additionally more and more endangered.
“The Authorities ought to dangle its head in disgrace for permitting this merciless and outdated observe to proceed.”
Gervais added: “The concept that giraffes are being shot for enjoyable after which changed into ornaments to placed on show is simply horrific. I’ve no phrases. Giraffes are such magnificent and stylish animals.
“Trophy hunters name killing giraffes a ‘sport’. Taking pictures these inoffensive, light giants is not sport – it is a crime in opposition to nature. It is the act of a coward and a moron.
“To study that British firms are promoting giraffe-shooting ‘experiences’ makes me sick to the abdomen.”
Black bears have been the second hottest amongst British hunters with 96 souvenirs introduced again between 2020 and 2024 – the most recent 12 months information is on the market – together with entire our bodies, claws, skins and skulls.
In the meantime, lions have been third with 78 trophies imported to the UK, in response to the analysis by the Marketing campaign to Ban Trophy Looking.
The group’s founder Eduardo Goncalves stated: “It’s practically two years since Keir Starmer promised to ban looking trophies. But his authorities remains to be permitting sick trophy hunters to carry residence physique components of giraffes.
“The Prime Minister can’t blame civil servants for this – they’ve drafted the laws for the federal government. The invoice is sat there ready for ministers to get on with it.
“The general public need trophy looking banned. A ban has the help of opposition events together with the Conservatives. What on earth is No 10 ready for?”
British hunters pay hundreds of kilos to legally shoot animals overseas earlier than bringing grisly souvenirs from their kills residence with them.
A YouGov ballot in 2024 discovered that an amazing 92% of Britons say trophy looking is unacceptable, with simply 4% saying it was acceptable.
The findings of the analysis sparked condemnation from different celebrities.
Presenter Chris Tarrant stated: “To assume that individuals are nonetheless flying out, capturing them, and bringing bits again as trophies these days is deeply miserable.
“It feels fully out of step with the place public opinion is now, and admittedly, the federal government ought to know higher.”
Actor Brian Blessed stated: “What insanity is that this? To slaughter giraffes, the titans of the pure world, for the sake of grotesque trinkets is nothing wanting barbarism.
“Giraffes aren’t trophies, they’re marvels. We must be defending them with each fibre of our being, not permitting their magnificent types to be butchered and boxed up like souvenirs. It’s an outrage, a shame, and it should finish.”
Harry Potter actress Miriam Margolyes added: “It’s obscene, it’s merciless, and admittedly it’s simply pathetic.
“These stunning animals aren’t decorations for somebody’s lounge. Anybody who helps this must be completely ashamed of themselves, it makes me livid.”
Supporters of trophy looking argue that it helps conservation.
However giraffe knowledgeable Professor Fred Bercovitch warned that trophy looking was endangering the survival of the species.
He stated: “Giraffes are threatened with extinction. The looking trade’s justification of killing an endangered species so as to save that very same species is illogical.
“Trophy looking stays a colonial vestige favouring white folks.”
There are lower than 117,000 giraffes left within the wild, down from 150,000 within the Nineteen Eighties, in response to non-profit organisation Save Giraffes Now.
It comes after a earlier bid to ban trophy looking imports was derailed by a small variety of friends within the Home of Lords in 2023.
A Defra spokesperson stated: “We’ve got a robust monitor file of delivering for animal welfare and we stay firmly dedicated to introducing a ban on the import of looking trophies from species of conservation concern.
“We are going to carry ahead laws as quickly as Parliamentary time permits.”
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