Meet the Gosport man behind a campaign for a global trophy hunting ban

Eduardo Goncalves, 50 from Gosport, is spearheading the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting '“Â which is aiming to put an end to trophy hunting.

Currently, the goal is to ban wild animal trophies from being imported to the UK, but with a mind to eventually ban trophy hunting worldwide.

Since starting the campaign, Eduardo has seen the support for his cause go viral, with hundreds of thousands of people pledging their support, including celebrities like David Jason and Ed Sheeran.

He explained: '˜I have a big background in animal welfare; I've previously been with the WWF and set up SOS Lynx in 2000.

'˜But when I learned that Botswana could be lifting its ban on trophy hunting, I realisedÂ there was no organisation in the world leading a charge against it.

'˜It's something that simply doesn't belong in a civilised society '“Â the idea that you can kill an animal like this, just to hang it up on your wall, is barbaric and certainly doesn't help protect the population of these endangered species.

'˜People are genuinely horrified by the idea of trophy hunting, which could explain why we already have 500,000 people on board with the campaign, signing a letter to the president of Botswana asking him not to reinforce trophy hunting.'

Eduardo Goncalves, Bill Oddie, Dr Mark Jones, Peter Egan, Carol Royle and Sir Ranulph Fiennes outside Botswana High Commission in London.
Picture: submitted — Eduardo Goncalves, Bill Oddie, Dr Mark Jones, Peter Egan, Carol Royle and Sir Ranulph Fiennes outside Botswana High Commission in London. Picture: submitted

The campaign has received backing from some big celebrities, such as Piers Morgan, Jeremy Corbyn and David Attenborough.

Eduardo said: '˜I'm delighted that there has been such a wealth of support, from people with vastly different backgrounds.

'˜To have people like Piers Morgan and Jeremy Corbyn, who are known for not seeing eye-to-eye, backing the same campaign, really goes to show that this is something everyone feels passionate about.'

Through the campaign, an early day motion has been tabled in parliament to bring an end to trophy hunting imports '“Â which has seen cross-party support.

Pictured: Eduardo Goncalves in home in Gosport.
Picture: Habibur Rahman — Pictured: Eduardo Goncalves in home in Gosport. Picture: Habibur Rahman

Mr Goncalves admits that the road to banning trophy hunting worldwide will be a long one, but is optimistic that change to UK law could be on the horizon.

He said: '˜To get trophy hunting banned worldwide we need it to go through the United Nations, and getÂ theÂ Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to change its legislation.

'˜But to get the UK on board first and foremost would be a big step in the right direction.'

For more information, and to sign up to the campaign, people can go toÂ bantrophyhunting.net