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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to continue approving permits for British trophy hunters who shoot Cheetahs to bring the trophies back to the UK.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), an executive agency of Defra, is responsible for issuing import permits for hunting trophies. APHA will continue to issue import permits only when the strict criteria set out in the UK Wildlife Trade Regulations are satisfied, including that the import does not have a detrimental impact on the conservation status of a species.

This Government has also committed to a ban on the import of hunting trophies of species of conservation concern in its manifesto and will deliver on this. DEFRA is currently engaging with a range of stakeholders in order to decide on the most effective approach.