We were delighted to see a front page announcement in the UK Telegraph newspaper that the Prime Minister – Boris Johnson – was going to take a decision, maybe, possibly on some form of action against future trophy hunting imports into the UK. The Telegraph article mentioned “a source” for this information.
We later heard from our own sources that the Telegraph was contacted by Number 10 to place the article prominently -in other words – there was some weight behind the original article?.
Let’s hope there is some movement on this issue. LionAid has been seeking a ban of lion trophy hunting imports since 2010 – and we are now urging members of UK Parliament to have the results of a public consultation on this issue published. The public consultation submission ended February 25 this year, and results were promised 12 weeks later.
We are now about 20 weeks on, and still no report by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. We have sent request after request, freedom of information requests, and in the past two weeks we have sent further letters to many concerned MPs on this issue.
The Prime Minister might have concerns about trophy hunting imports into the UK, and if so, he needs to act. Tell his Secretary of Environment to publish the DEFRA public consultation results. Unfortunately, this is all a “procedure” and the right steps need to be taken – not least because government lawyers will face legal challenges by parties opposed. The recent UK Ivory Trade Ban went through legal challenges and survived – because the litigants could be defeated by good groundwork previously established.
The UK Prime Minister surely has the power to ban trophy hunting imports all by himself. But then the court cases will flow, and the delays will also flow while these cases make their way through the courts.
So one step at a time, but LionAid will be in the fore, pushing from behind, motivating from the front as we have always done. Let’s get this lion trophy hunting import ban done and dusted!
PS – we have 684,294 signatories on this petition now. Biggest petition ever on any wildlife issue Mr Johnson… Very well done everyone! Keep asking all your friends, family and colleagues to sign too!