The Sunday People is not normally top of Steerpike’s reading list but Mr S was intrigued to see it yesterday trumpeting an exclusive. The newspaper has declared victory in its long-running campaign for an end to the import of hunting trophies. For George Eustice is now backing its bid to end the trade in such objects, with the Environment Secretary quoted as promising ‘one of the toughest bans in the world.’
It breathlessly reports that there will be up to seven years in jail for those caught smuggling skins, heads and other body part ‘souvenirs’ to Britain, with the ban to cover some 6,000 animals deemed under threat from the trade, including the ‘big five’ of lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and buffalo. Reindeer will also now be included – happy Christmas Rudolph.
All this of course comes, er, a mere two years after Boris Johnson vowed to ‘end this vile trade’ amid warnings that ‘every day of delay’ means ‘more lives of vulnerable and threatened species lost.’
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