The bloodthirsty Brits who like to kill big game for fun: Activist and author prepares to name and embarrass 100 hunters in new book before House of Commons votes to ban wildlife ‘trophies’ import prohibit.

For most families, a vacation means a kid-friendly resort, a good book, and plenty of activities to keep the kids entertained.

But a Center Parcs-style break would not suit a retired businessman from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Instead of taking his nine-year-old son to the forest to practice archery under the guidance of an instructor, he took him to Africa to shoot wild animals.

“He had a good time,” the father boasted to me. “He got a nickname, ‘the sharpshooter’.” Father and son killed antelopes, warthogs and monkeys and even brought back animal heads and skins as trophies.

It is not unique. It’s not even unusual. Dozens of British hunters travel abroad to slaughter exotic animals, both in the wild and in captivity, many taking their children with them.

This is all perfectly legal and there are those who genuinely support hunting in the wild. They say that if done responsibly, it can be an important factor in conservation and encourage good habitat management by local people. And there is no doubt that it brings jobs and tourism income to some of the world’s most deprived areas.

However, I, a long-time campaigner against this bloodthirsty pastime, will never believe that there is any benefit to killing an animal if it can instead be photographed and left alive for the next group of tourists to enjoy. This month, Parliament will vote on banning the import of “hunting trophies” such as impala skin for use as a rug or a stuffed lion head to hang on the wall.

To focus MPs’ minds, I am taking the extraordinary step of naming (and hopefully shaming) 100 British fighters in a forthcoming book, some of whom I have listed here. There is no evidence that any of these individuals acted illegally, and they undoubtedly support the arguments that hunting can be beneficial if done responsibly.

Many people think trophy hunting is an American obsession. You remember Cecil the lion, who was killed in Zimbabwe in 2015 by Walter Palmer, a dentist in Minnesota.

You don’t know the Scottish dairy farmer who hunts elephants and calls Africa his “drug”. You’ve never heard of the Sussex gunmaker who compares hunting to the “fodder for heroin” or a developer, also Scottish, who calls the African savannah his “candy shop”. Adrian Cawte is a Ministry of Defense dog handler from Somerset who has written gory accounts online of his kills, speaking of “the satisfying thud of the round coming home” and of a wounded animal on a trail of ” bright red blood mixed with pieces of tissue”. ‘ to follow.

There is no evidence that any of these individuals acted illegally, and they undoubtedly support the arguments that hunting can be beneficial if done responsibly

Many of these people were not hard to find. They brag about their exploits on hunting forums and social media

READ MORE: Trophy hunting ban will put endangered species at risk, MPs say

Lawmakers backing a law banning hunters from taking home trophies of their prey were misled by a “hurricane of misinformation,” scientists claimed last year

London lawyer Abigail Day has been named the world’s top trophy hunter. Gloucestershire businessman Malcolm King has killed more than 650 animals and won an award for shooting specimens of 125 different species.

Pest control officer Ricky Clark has around 50 trophies at his home in New Malden, south-west London, including body parts from lions, buffalo, leopards, hippos and zebras.

Many of these people were not hard to find. They brag about their exploits on hunting forums and social media. Asif Wattoo, a customer service manager at Thames Water, until recently had a Facebook page where he shared 20 photos of himself posing with dead animals. I found others by calling hunting companies in Africa and inquiring about their services. These people sent me price lists like restaurant menus and told me how much or how little I would pay for each variety. When I asked for testimonials, they were more than happy to put me in touch with other customers – who in turn were eager to show off their kills.

A similar trick led the safari companies to discover their own dirty tricks. I claimed interest in doing business with them and pretended to have wealthy backers. Relentless with greed, they told me how South Africa had become the center of the trophy hunting industry.

To call it an “industry” is no exaggeration. Big cats are bred in factories to be killed by tourists. South Africa has more lions in captivity than in the wild. 10,000 lions, tigers and leopards are waiting in cages to be shot by hunters.

Killing a lion in the wild like Cecil would cost at least £50,000 in fees and accommodation. Killing a tame lioness while traveling to a “canned hunt” facility is much cheaper, costing just £3,000.

This month there is a parliamentary vote to ban the importation of ‘hunting trophies’ – for example a roe deer skin as a rug or a stuffed lion head to hang on the wall

These animals are usually raised by hand as they were separated from their mothers when they were only a few weeks old. Tourists then have the opportunity to sell the skeleton back to the breeder, who in turn sells it to one of the country’s many bone dealers.

They buy lion and tiger bones for the Chinese market, where they are prized in powdered form as high-level medicine – scientific nonsense. A bottle of “tiger wine” with a dash of bone is said to be an aphrodisiac and costs hundreds of pounds.

Together with other activists and researchers, I visited some of these young animal farms. It was not our intention to save individual animals: there were so many that it seemed pointless. But while we were secretly filming, we saw a tiger in danger of being killed. Her name was Sally.

On a whim, we suggested that the breeders give them away – as a ‘goodwill gesture’ to our imaginary supporters. While we were negotiating, the merchant became restless. He threatened to enter Sally’s cage and kill her on the spot with a 9mm pistol. In the end we were able to bring the tiger to safety. She is now in an animal shelter in an undisclosed location and lends her name to my book Saving Sally: Trophy Hunters – Secrets and Lies.

With such great carnage, it seems impossible to stop it. But if the Hunting Trophy (Prohibition on Import) Act is passed on March 17, it will be a giant step

Many people think trophy hunting is an American obsession. You remember Cecil the lion, who was killed in Zimbabwe in 2015 by Walter Palmer, a dentist in Minnesota

With such great carnage, it seems impossible to stop it. But if the Hunting Trophy (Prohibition on Import) Act is passed on March 17, it will be a giant step. It won’t outlaw hunting abroad, but it will stop one of the main reasons these people do it: to show off to other hunters by taking home their coveted trophies. (It is not clear if the trophies pictured here were taken home.)

Most MPs support the bill. But there is a real danger it will technically fail if too few MPs are present for the vote, which falls on a day between two days of rail strikes and a Friday when most would normally be back in their constituencies. .

This means that Daily Mail readers can do one very powerful thing to make a difference: write to your MP and urge them to vote there. Show that you care. Don’t let the carnage continue.