Regarding Cal Flyn’s article ( On the trail with the hunters who believe shooting big game can save Africa’s wildlife, 21 April ), I spent several years undercover in the trophy‑hunting industry, engaging with hunters and CEOs of hunting companies. I wanted to understand their motivations and whether wildlife conservation was one of them. It wasn’t. The primary driver was most succinctly expressed by a Sussex man who had shot lions, elephants and a critically endangered black rhinoceros: “It’s like mainlining on heroin.” Since 2020, giraffes have become a favoured souvenir of the globe-trotting British hunter. Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch both agree on banning trophy-hunting imports, as does virtually every party. Given such unprecedented political consensus, why isn’t this on the statute book? The answer is that a private member’s bill passed the Commons unanimously in 2023, only to be subsequently thwarted by a dozen unelected, pro-hunting Lords .…