Trophy hunting is the killing of wildlife purely for the purpose of displaying parts of the animal—often the head or skin.
Globally, imports of over 97,000 trophies of mammal species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) were recorded between 2014 and 2018.
While Australia has banned the import of African lions and elephants and rhinos, the import of trophies from many CITES listed species, including giraffes and zebras, is still permitted.
Shockingly, Australia ranked 10th on the list of global trophy imports of CITES listed mammal species for 2014–2018 with 827 trophies from 40 different species, including threatened species.
Import permit data shows that trophy hunting is not going anywhere fast. The number of permits for mammal trophy imports into Australia have actually increased over the last 20 years. Yet, public opinion of trophy hunting is overwhelmingly negative.