NEWS: In a move that has baffled most of the UK’s ruling Conservative Party, inside sources have revealed that a “handful of very wealthy peers” have managed to can new legislation that would have banned the import of hunting trophies.

Conservative insiders are laying the blame squarely on a “handful of very wealthy peers” who represent the hunting lobby for the scrapping of changes to the law that would ban the import of hunting trophies into the UK, reported the Guardian.

Over the weekend, it emerged that the popular Animals Abroad bill - a post-Brexit flagship bill that also included measures banning adverts for holidays including elephant rides - had been scrapped along with other 2019 manifesto promises, at least during the current parliament.

The bill was one of the few positives to come out of Brexit for animals as the Tory government sought to prove to voters that the UK could lead the way in animal welfare once in full control of its legislation and free of EU controls. But all that appears to have been for nought thanks to what ministers have called the ‘traditional wing of the party’.

“A handful of crusties have managed to seize control. A handful of very wealthy peers are pressing for all the animal welfare measures to be dropped because they fear eventually it might mean their weekends could be affected,” a senior government source told the Guardian.

The former commitment to ban the import of endangered animals’ body parts into the UK would have helped to discourage cruelty to animals abroad, as hunters would not have been able to bring back macabre souvenirs of their kills.

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Rational Conservative MPs have called on the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to bring the new bill into force as soon as possible rather than wait for the next parliament.

“There is absolutely no place for trophy hunting in the civilised modern world,” said Sir Roger Gale of the Conserative Animal Welfare Foundation. “There is an infinitely better living for those in developing countries to be made out of photo tourism, the photographing of living wild animals, then there ever has been in murdering those animals simply to bring their body parts home and stick them on a wall. That is why trophy hunting has to be banned, and it has to be banned now”.

A poll commissioned by the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting found that 92 per cent of Tory supporters are in favour of banning the importation of hunting trophies from endangered species.

Eduardo Goncalves, of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, said: “Dropping a bill backed by 92% of your party’s supporters is baffling, to say the least. Aside from it being a broken manifesto commitment, it doesn’t look good when the prime minister and the Queen tell MPs the ban is going ahead, only to mysteriously axe it for no good reason.

“One can only hope this is some terrible misunderstanding and that Boris Johnson will move quickly to clarify matters. If, as is expected, there is a new Queen’s speech in May, then it is imperative that the trophy ban is included within it. The patience of many Tory voters is fraying. Animal welfare issues can be strong drivers of voting intention. If the Conservatives go back on this commitment, they can expect it to come back to haunt them.”

Andrew Gough is Media and Investigations Manager for Surge.

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