Dame Joanna Lumley 'shocked' by governments' failure to stop trophy hunting

Dame Joanna Lumley has demanded the government act on a trophy hunting ban while she marked the 10th anniversary of Cecil the lion's death. Cecil, a male who lived in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, was killed on July 2 2015 by a trophy hunter from the United States after being lured outside the park.

His killing sparked almost universal worldwide outrage and put a spotlight on ethical concerns around trophy hunting. Dame Joanna said: “The brutal, senseless killing of Cecil a decade ago shocked and enraged me as it shocked and enraged the world.

“A proud, beautiful creature murdered for ‘sport’ in a display of senseless cruelty. It was an act of barbarism emblematic of the utterly grim and outdated practice of trophy hunting.

“Now, ten years on, I am just as shocked. Shocked that successive governments have failed to keep their promise to the British people and make it illegal for hunters to bring their spoils from this so-called sport back here to the UK.

“We need a ban on the import of hunting trophies here in Britain. Trophy hunting is helping drive endangered species to extinction and we need to play our part in bringing that to an end. Cecil had a right to life, as all wild animals do.”

"The animal lover urged Britons to write to their MPs to demand a change in the law so that Cecil’s “death cannot be in vain”.

Labour's election manifesto in 2024 included a pledge to introduce a trophy hunting ban.

But it has been left to a private member's bill which is set to be debated next month.

There is concern among animal welfare groups because such bills almost never become law without government support.

Dr Mark Jones, Born Free’s head of policy, said: “Cecil suffered for hours before finally being killed. The anger this act generated across the world demonstrated how most right-minded people feel about this obscene activity. Yet in spite of repeated promises, a decade on lions and other wild animals, many belonging to species that are threatened with extinction, continue to be targeted by sick trophy hunters, Brits among them, in their tens of thousands every year. This, the 10th anniversary of Cecil’s death, is the time for the UK government to finally take action and ban the import of hunting trophies, in order to help bring this colonial- era so-called ‘sport’ to an end.”

British hunters brought home in just one year the bodies of at least three African elephants they had shot, as well as scores of body parts from crocodiles, bears, lions, baboons, cheetahs and zebras.

Trophy-hunters reportedly imported into the UK 188 parts from 28 endangered or threatened species in 2023 – the year after Boris Johnson’s government dropped a proposed new ban on such imports.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "The Government was elected on a mandate to ban the import of hunting trophies - that is exactly what we will do."

The Government will set out its formal position on the private members bill when it receives its second reading.