A memento — or a lifesaver?

Charles Smith-Jones argues trophy hunting is vital for wildlife and local communities

- Charles Smith-Jones

A large package arrived from Africa. It contained the horns of a greater kudu, a springbok and a blesbok, as well as the tanned skins of the last two. None are particularly special as examples of their kind: the kudu was shot because it had a pronounced limp, later discovered to be caused by a broken leg that had mended badly.

The impala ram was old and past breeding and the blesbok ewe part of a plan to reduce numbers to keep them within what the ground could support. Nevertheless, I felt a need to pay the cost of their preparation and transportation back to the UK.

If the naysayers have their way, in the future such things will never enter the country and must be left where they came from; things of no value left to rot on the African veldt.

This is timely because, by when you read this, the Defra consultation on the import of hunting trophies will have ended and civil servants will be deliberating on the results. The Prime Minister has declared in Parliament that trophy imports will be banned, making a mockery of the whole consultation process, which has been largely overseen by his anti-hunting friend Zac Goldsmith. Mr Goldsmith, it should be remembered, was rejected by his Richmond constituency voters, but awarded a life peerage by Mr Johnson so that he could stay within Defra. No doubt Mr Johnson’s fiancée Carrie Symonds, an animal rights activist, will have had a few words too. Regrettably, none of the main protagonists seem to have much of a grounding in countryside affairs or practicalities.

Emotive