It’s summer holiday time and, while many of us will be either enjoying or planning to enjoy a week away on a beach or beside a pool, it seems a number of British ‘holiday’ companies are selling a much less peaceful mid-year break.
They are offering trophy hunting excursions in Africa where gun-toting Brits can shoot hand-reared lions in enclosures!
Here’s where our Bath MP Wera Hobhouse has brought in some big celebrity ‘guns’ of her own to back her efforts to try and thwart this horrendous practice.
Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley and legendary explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes have thrown their support behind Mrs Hobhouse’s campaign to stop British trophy hunters bringing home the heads and bodies of endangered wildlife.
‘Allo ‘Allo icon Vicki Michelle and Downton Abbey and Afterlife actor Peter Egan also came to Parliament to meet and personally give their backing to Mrs Hobhouse’s campaign.
A new report by the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting – published on the 9th anniversary of the killing of Cecil the lion by American dentist Walter Palmer – shows that British trophy hunters are also killing lions.
It reveals that British trophy hunters have also killed thousands of elephants, hippos, giraffes and other endangered animals including rhinos and polar bears.
A number of British companies are selling trophy hunting ‘holidays’ in Africa where trophy hunters can shoot hand-reared lions in enclosures.
Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, Wera Hobhouse, said:
“I wholeheartedly support a ban on these sick souvenirs. British trophy hunters must have absolutely no right to kill endangered species, and yet we hear that they are shooting lions bred in captivity.
“Many residents in Bath write to me frequently, expressing their distress and disgust at trophy hunting. I’m pleased to be able to take a stand against this barbaric behaviour and amplify their voices alongside tireless campaigners like Joanna Lumley and Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
“How we treat animals is a reflection on who we are as a society. It’s critical that we put an end to this cruel practice.”
Joanna Lumley said the government needed to bring in a complete ban on hunting trophies: “The British people want a comprehensive ban – not one riddled with loopholes and exemptions. It must be brought to the House of Commons immediately. It’s high time this ban was in place.”
Ranulph Fiennes said: “I’m 100% behind Wera Hobhouse MP’s work to bring an end to this disgrace. It’s high time we had a comprehensive ban on these sick souvenirs of innocent animals killed for so-called sport. What kind of world are we living in where this is still allowed? I’m really pleased Wera is campaigning to stop this.”
Peter Egan added: “Wera Hobhouse is speaking up for her constituents as well as for vulnerable wildlife with her campaign. Voters are furious that British trophy hunters are killing lions, elephants, giraffes and zebras just so they can display their heads and bodies in stomach-churning trophy rooms. This must end right away, and I’m thrilled that Wera Hobhouse MP is campaigning on this.”
Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting founder Eduardo Gonçalves said: “We often think of trophy hunters as crazed gun-toting Americans, so it’s a shock to many people to learn that large numbers of lions and other animals are killed every year by British trophy hunters. It’s fantastic that Wera Hobhouse has taken up the cudgels on this issue. Polls repeatedly show that voters want these sordid mementoes banned and trophy hunting abolished.”
I am all in favour of shooting wild animals. It should be done in the wild with a camera not a gun.