Stars including Ricky Gervais and Dame Judi Dench need help of West Midlands residents to speed up ban on trophy hunting imports in Parliament

Before Parliament's Christmas recess the Labour government announced that it would dedicate time to the banning of trophy hunting imports, which is amazing news for the high profile campaign.

But help is still needed from residents, who are being urged to write to their MP to push for the government to urgently set a date, to help save the lives of animals who will still die at the hands of UK trophy hunters if the ban is not swiftly implemented.

Ricky Gervais said: "Great news that the government will make a ban on trophy hunting a government bill. They haven't said when though. Please can we make it as soon as possible. Animals are being killed all the time by sick trophy hunters so every second counts."

Eduardo Goncalves, founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, said: “We are pleased that Labour has now said it will use Government time to legislate in order to prevent a tiny band of pro-shooting lords from blocking what the public wants.

"But what the Government still hasn’t said when - which is what we are now calling on it to do, and it is an urgent situation. They need to name the date.

"Innocent animals are dying every day at the hands of sick British trophy hunters; the government could bring the bill to Parliament in the new year because government officials have already written it.

"Banning trophy hunting imports would be a very popular policy, and has support from nine out of ten voters, we are urging people in Wolverhampton to write to their MPs, your letters help to strengthen the argument to get the ban done as fast as possible.

"Let's bring some justice for Cecil the Lion and get the ban done before the anniversary of his death in July, without a ban in place the clock does not stop ticking for beautiful animals like him."

Dame Judi Dench added: "There’s no doubting the government’s commitment to the ban. However, having built up expectations, they now need to see it through. It’s a policy that has tremendous support around the country."

This month a backbench Conservative MP is bringing a private member's bill to parliament this month on the issue, which shows that the law change has cross-party support. 

This is the 3rd such attempt by MPs in recent years. Both previous attempts won unanimous support for MPs in the Commons but failed to become law. This is why campaigners have been pressing the government to commit to bringing the ban forward in its own parliamentary time, and are delighted they have finally agreed to do this following the campaign.

But while there is any wait for the ban to come into place, British trophy hunters are continuing to shoot and bring home trophies of lions, elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebras, and even monkeys and cheetahs.

Data comes from the UN Environment Programme and CITES, the international convention to ban trade in endangered species, and which monitors imports of hunters' animal trophies into Britain. 

On December 19 DEFRA Minister Mary Creagh made the ground breaking commitment to give government time to the trophy hunting ban, following a question from Wera Hobhouse, Lib Dem MP for Bath. 

She said that the Government was looking at the best way to fulfil the commitment and would do so with 'Government time'. 

To write to your MP go to writetothem.com/?a=westminstermp and type in your postcode.

To find out more about the campaign go to bantrophyhunting.org