Conservationists and wildlife advocates are rejoicing over a commitment to a "landmark" policy change in Belgium.
In late December, Belgium's Constitutional Court — the highest court in the land — rejected an appeal to a 2024 law banning "the import of certain hunting trophies," World Animal News reported.
A jubilant January 2024 press release from Humane World for Animals announced that Belgium's Parliament voted unanimously to ban trophy-hunting imports, calling it a "momentous triumph for wildlife conservation and animal welfare."
The Library of Congress defined trophy hunting as a global, "multinational, multimillion-dollar industry," one centered around the killing of animals for sport rather than sustenance. As the entry noted, "rare and threatened animals" remained highly prized among trophy hunters.
In early 2025, a controversy over reindeer trophy hunting trips in Norway emerged, with critics emphasizing that reindeer populations were as low as 900 in the area.
Proponents of trophy hunting have claimed the practice is a boon for conservation, arguing that it funds broader conservation efforts. Animal welfare groups have debunked that claim, asserting that a mere 0.13% of conservation funding comes from trophy hunting.
Trophy hunting has links to the illegal wildlife trafficking trade, a multi-billion-dollar global business that threatens ecosystems. Hunting and fishing bans can be controversial on occasion, but they're critical for protecting biodiversity and keeping Earth's food chain intact.
Particularly given trophy hunters' demand for large, rare, or endangered wildlife, targeted bans can make or break ecosystems, as each animal plays a role in maintaining its delicate balance.
Large predators keep prey populations steady, for instance, whereas a sudden decline in an ecosystem's prey population can be devastating for wildlife further up the food chain.
As World Animal News noted, prior to the ban in Belgium, "hippos, cheetahs, and polar bears" were among at-risk species targeted for trophy imports.
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Save $1,000 this year 💸 Zakia Khattabi, former minister of climate in Belgium, lauded the decision to uphold the ban and acknowledged the years of effort behind the conservation win.
"With the approval of my legislative project … the Parliament is providing a legal basis to the resolution it unanimously adopted on 24 March 2022. It was urgent and necessary to protect these threatened and endangered species," Khattabi said, per the publication.
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