A trophy hunting ban won’t save Africa’s wildlife

British rule over South Africa ended in 1910, but now parliament is busy with legislation that could have a devastating effect on its old colony. A landmark law to ban trophy hunting imports is making its way through the Lords. The Hunting Trophies Bill would prevent tourists importing animal skins, severed heads and carcasses of certain animals to the UK after shoots abroad. But the planned law has holes wide enough for a hippo to walk through. The crackdown may be well intended but it also betrays a lack of understanding about South Africa – and the trade many people, not least farmers, rely upon to survive.

In South Africa, many farmers keep giraffe, impala, wildebeest, kudu and nyala. These animals aren’t corralled like cattle: they live on enormous game ranches which are typically tens of thousands of acres in size. Some of these farms take hours to drive around. The creatures who live in these places are wild, as they have always been, but they are kept in by a fence.