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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help prevent the hunting to extinction of endangered species.

Through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) legal rules are in place to ensure that any international movement of trophies from the hunting of endangered species can only take place if the hunt is assessed as not having a detrimental impact on the survival of the species.

In light of growing concerns about the sustainability of the hunting of some species, we have worked with EU Member States to introduce stricter controls on the importation of hunting trophies of certain endangered species, including lions and African elephants. As a result, the importation of hunting trophies of certain species from certain countries is currently prohibited.

We have also been pressing for tough, transparent, global standards for the hunting of protected species. I attended the 17^th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES where Parties agreed to remove the loophole that allowed such trophies to be transported as personal effects. As a result, export permits will be needed for almost all hunted animals of endangered species included in Appendix II of CITES, including lions and African elephants, as well as those in Appendix I. Building on this, we agreed clear criteria the exporting country should consider when assessing that the hunt was both legal and sustainable before issuing an export permit.

Finally, in the case of lions and African elephants, the UK has to then confirm that we agree with this assessment and issue a corresponding permit before any import can take place. As a result, we secured greater scrutiny of trade in trophies to ensure the sustainability of exports.

We will continue to monitor the impact of trophy hunting and will work to put in place greater protection, including prohibiting imports, if this is shown to be needed.