Animal Advocacy Groups collect 1 Million Signatures to End Trophy Hunting in the UK

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Advocacy groups came together on the steps of the Number 10 building in the UK to present a million signatures urging the UK to end their participation in trophy hunting. The groups stood proudly on the Headquarters of the United Kingdom Government to urge the United Kingdom government to ban the import and export of trophy hunting trophies once and for all.

According to studies, approximately 80% of those surveyed in the UK supported a total ban on trophy hunting altogether, not just trophy hunting of endangered animals. The UK recently announced they're looking into banning imports and exports of endangered animal trophies but advocacy groups are calling on them to ban trophy hunting in its entirety. Here are some quotes from various advocacy representatives that speak out against trophy hunting;

“We welcome the government’s announcement that it is looking at a ban on imports of hunting trophies from endangered animals, but we’re clear that this law needs to go further than that. This isn’t just about stopping species from going extinct, it’s about taking a stand against a completely immoral practice. A complete ban would reflect the strong public disgust for trophy hunting, and would ensure that it’s effective and not riddled with loopholes.”

--Claire Bass, UK Executive Director of Humane Society International / UK

“Trophy hunting is a cruel and damaging relic of a colonial era that causes immense animal suffering and disrupts wildlife social groups and populations, while doing nothing to help wildlife conservation or local communities. The UK government should take decisive action to ban the import and export of hunting trophies, so as to discourage British hunters from travelling overseas and foreign hunters from coming here to kill wild animals for fun, and to set an international precedent for safeguarding the world’s diminishing wildlife. We must do everything we can to ensure this archaic activity is brought to an end.”

-- Dr. Mark Jones Born Free's Head of Policy

As I've said before, trophy hunting acts under the guise of conservation claiming that money spent to take part in these horrific hunts is funnelled into local African communities and also goes towards true conservation efforts. This has been debunked countless times and yet they continue to use this as their justification for their participation. There is absolutely no justification for participating in the killing of endangered animals, can we just accept that once and for all. The argument that you are somehow helping with conservation by shooting endangered animals dead and bringing their body parts back as trophies is absolutely sickening and without merit.

KILLING ENDANGERED ANIMALS DOES NOT HELP WITH CONSERVATION! PLAIN AND SIMPLE!

We are literally in the midst of a mass extinction with 100's of species going extinct every day. Australia just endured some of the worst bushfires in its history with nearly a billion animals perishing putting koalas in danger of going extinct. These are facts and yet here we are, continuing to allow wealthy people to shoot and kill endangered animals like lions, rhinos, giraffes, and leopards. There is no excuse for allowing this to continue especially when you consider the state of our planet and the animals that are suffering all around the world. It's time for a global ban on trophy hunting ending this barbaric sport once and for all. We cannot continue to allow such a horrendous activity to take place when the planet's animals are already facing an uncertain future. How hypocritical of us as a global community to preach about saving animals while simultaneously allowing people to pay big money to kill animals. 

I truly hope the UK moves to end trophy hunting once and for all. Taking this gigantic leap would send a clear message to the global community that it's time to end trophy hunting once and for all and work towards ACTUAL conservation before we see the untimely end of some of the most recognizable animals on our planet.

HAPPY VEG