An attempt to ban the import of hunting trophies into Britain has upset conservationists in southern Africa, with some accusing the UK of seeking to recolonize the continent through law.
The proposed legislation, which aims to help protect endangered animals, will be voted on in the UK Parliament on Friday. It has the support of celebrities, including model Kate Moss and football presenter Gary Lineker.
Trophy hunting — in which hunters sometimes pay thousands of dollars for the right to kill mostly large animals like elephants and lions — has long been controversial. Hunters often take home parts of the animals as trophies, such as skulls, hides, tusks or claws.
But many communities and government officials in southern Africa oppose the latest British ban.
Those opposed to the bill said it was “another way to re-colonize Africa” and claimed the UK was “imposing their very clean way of thinking on us”.
Hunters are depicted after killing a female lion. Hunters often take home parts of the animals as trophies, such as skulls, hides, tusks or claws.
A British trophy hunter poses with an elephant he killed. On Friday, parliament will vote on the law on the import of hunting trophies
Chris Brown, the head of the Namibian Chamber of Environment (NCE), said: ‘What the UK is doing is imposing their very urban, clean way of thinking on us.’
Others have supported the proposed legislation.
“Can anyone give me a better definition of colonialism than white people flying to Africa and saying, ‘I’m going to shoot these animals for fun, it’s my right to do that’?” Eduardo Goncalves, founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, told a rally in support of the bill in Westminster on Wednesday.
But proponents argue that killing a small number of select animals generates much-needed revenue to boost conservation efforts and support local communities.
In a letter to UK Development and Africa Minister Andrew Mitchell earlier this month, dozens of conservationists and community leaders from Botswana, Angola, Zambia and Namibia warned that the law would have a negative impact.
“With decreased revenues from trophy hunting, poaching will increase because there will be less money to pay salaries to the gamekeepers,” the letter read.
“We feel this is another way to recolonize Africa.”
Thato Raphaka, permanent secretary of Botswana’s tourism and environment ministry, said South African countries are lobbying for the law to be dropped.
Trophy hunting – in which hunters sometimes pay thousands of dollars for the right to kill mostly large game such as elephants and lions – has long been controversial
Hunters often take home parts of the animals as trophies after the kill. Some of the trophies are skulls, skins, tusks or claws
Botswana, with the world’s largest elephant population of about 130,000 tusks, banned trophy hunting in 2014, but lifted the restriction five years later due to pressure from local communities.
Ex-President Ian Khama, a staunch environmentalist, remains one of the region’s few voices against game hunting.
“Hunting … is not sustainable, especially if poaching is not controlled,” he told AFP.
It only contributes to the decline of wildlife, he said.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, the number of wild animals in Africa has declined by 66 percent since 1970.
Still, the group said trophy hunting, when properly managed, has proven to be an “effective conservation tool.”
Brown, an environmental scientist, said local communities have a much better idea of how best to protect wildlife than legislators sitting thousands of miles away in London.
He pointed to a 2017 study that ranked countries’ efforts to protect large animals like rhinoceroses and bears.
Namibia and Botswana came out on top, while Britain was rated ‘below average’ at number 123 on the list.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, the number of wild animals in Africa has declined by 66 percent since 1970
The number of rhinoceroses in Namibia has more than doubled since 2005, despite the constant threat of poachers, according to the International Rhino Foundation
In Namibia, trophy hunting affected about one percent of total wildlife each year and usually took place on private farmland, not in national parks.
If it were banned, farmers would lose the incentive to live next to disruptive animals like lions, cheetahs, hyenas, elephants and crocodiles, said Brown, who is a vegetarian.
The country’s rhino numbers have more than doubled since 2005, despite the constant threat of poachers, according to the International Rhino Foundation.
British make up a small portion of the trophy hunters in southern Africa.
Most hunters in South Africa come from the United States, according to a 2021 report by animal rights organization Humane Society International, with the UK not even making the top 10 list.
But Brown said that if the UK law were passed, there were fears that other countries would follow suit.
“People think they’re doing the right thing for conservation, but they’re actually undermining it,” he said.