Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 14 June 2016 to Question 40644, on animal imports, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of steps taken to improve hunting practices.

Trophy hunting was discussed at the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Johannesburg last year.

The Conference adopted a Resolution on trade in hunting trophies designed to improve the conservation of target species.

At that same meeting, the UK led negotiations on behalf of the EU on African lions which saw a number of decisions adopted including undertaking a comparative study of lion population trends and conservation and management practices, such as lion hunting, within and between countries.

The UK is a member of the African lion inter-sessional working group set up by the 69th CITES Standing Committee last month, whose work will include developing guidance on trade in, and conservation of, African lions.