Victory: A trophy hunting ban is on its way

In a powerful and positive display of supporter action, your efforts made the government sit up and take notice.

Thank you to all of you who wrote to former federal environment minister, The Hon Tanya Plibersek, asking her to ban the import of hunting trophies.

We compiled every one of your messages into a book and presented this collection to the minister. This was a powerful avenue for our continued communication with Plibersek and her team
about this issue. Your efforts led to a federal election commitment from the re-elected Albanese government to significantly expand the importation ban of hunting trophies into Australia! Thank you!

Trophy hunting involves the killing of wildlife purely for the purpose of displaying parts of the animals in private homes—often the head or skin. Australian trophy hunters have imported more than 1,000 trophies from the internationally protected species they have killed over the past decade.

Yet our polling shows that few Australians think this is acceptable. And in South Africa—where much of the hunting takes place—polling undertaken in 2020 found that 60% of the population was
opposed to trophy hunting.

At the May federal election, because of our advocacy, the Albanese government promised to ban hunting trophies being brought back to Australia for the 20 most imported trophy species.
These included giraffes; zebras; baboons; brown, black and polar bears; and hippos.

Those animals will now join lions, rhinos and elephants on Australia’s banned trophies list.

Humane World for Animals is now seeking to work with the new federal Environment Minister, Senator Murray Watt, to ensure the commitment is implemented promptly.