France bans hunting trophy imports

Born Free is delighted to see the announcement by Mathieu Lefèvre, France’s Minister Delegate for Ecological Transition, suspending all imports of hunting trophies from endangered species with immediate effect. 

The Minister’s announcement, which was posted on his LinkedIn profile, also outlines his plan to regulate the keeping of non-domestic animals as pets through the development of a ‘positive list’. A decree establishing the criteria for evaluating which species will be permitted will be published within three months, and a committee of independent experts will be set up by the end of this year to conduct the evaluations, which will apply to mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. 

Responding to the news, Born Free’s EU Policy Officer Elodie Cantaloube, who is based in France, said: “We are absolutely delighted to see these very encouraging developments, which will go a long way towards protecting threatened species from exploitation and abuse, and reducing welfare harms to individual animals. We applaud the Minister’s courage and conviction and stand ready to assist him in ensuring these measures are promptly and robustly implemented, with all due consideration for the welfare of any animals that are affected. These progressive measures by France should act as an example to other countries in Europe and beyond.”  

The announcement follows months of behind-the-scenes work by Born Free and others. It also includes plans to strengthen the keeping conditions of wildlife and controls on travelling circuses, introduce appropriate sanctions for transgressions, ban the cross breeding of domestic with non-domestic animals, and encourage the creation of new rescue centres to accommodate seized or abandoned animals. 

The Minister’s statement can be seen in full on his LinkedIn page.