2025 Review

Let’s take a look back at 2025 and see if we are moving forward, or regressing when it comes to wildlife conservation.

South Africa

In November 2025, a cabinet reshuffle confirmed that Democratic Alliance (DA) leader and Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen has requested the removal of Dr Dion George as Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. – “‘Removal of Minister George could mark reversal of recent conservation gains‘,” EWN, 10 November 2025

“Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen wants President Cyril Ramaphosa to fire Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Dion George and replace him with DA national spokesperson Willie Aucamp. On paper, it’s just another reshuffle request in a fragile Government of National Unity. In reality, it looks a lot like a calculated move to drag the environment portfolio back into the arms of South Africa’s powerful hunting and wildlife trade lobby” – “Steenhuisen’s lion bone gambit — firing the one minister who finally took on the wildlife trade,” Daily Maverick, 9 November 2025

“The elephants will survive another bad cycle of ministers. The question is whether our democracy can survive the loss of integrity that allows this kind of capture to flourish – a system where the minister for the environment may soon also be the minister for monetising wildlife. That is not stewardship. It is the endgame of capture” – “The sacking of Dion George — how a progressive minister is being taken down by the wildlife breeders,” Daily Maverick, 9 November 2025

Kobus Steyn invested in lion bones, buying from a lion farmer in the hope of selling them at a profit. In December 2025, Steyn committed to a symbolic act of atonement, with the ’emotional’ burning of his lion bone investment.

The attendees watched as nearly half a tonne of lion bone derivatives burnt, symbolising the cruelty of the captive-breeding industry, but also highlighting the political turmoil threatening to revive it. Credit should be given to Kobus Steyn for seeing and publicly admitting the cruelty within the lion bone industry, sacrificing his investment in a symbolic gesture – let’s hope the industry is not revived:

“A government process to phase out captive lion breeding – painstakingly built through panels, parliamentary colloquiums, white papers and cross-sector collaboration – had been abruptly destabilised. The minister [Dr Dion George] who’d backed animal wellbeing reforms and a halt to the lion-bone trade had been suddenly removed and a replacement aligned with breeders and hunters installed, raising serious concerns” – “As 42 lion carcasses turned to ash, SA’s commitment to end captive breeding hangs in balance,” Daily Maverick, 14 December 2025

As ever, South Africa remains at a cross-roads, embedded in seemingly endless inner turmoil and the power of those that profit from animal exploitation and cruelty.

Botswana

Botswana is seemingly intent on continuing its regressive path into the abyss that is trophy hunting after rescinding a complete moratorium on trophy hunting within its borders in 2018/19 and has doubled-down ever since:

“If you wanted a masterclass in how to turn a conservation success story into a global controversy, Botswana has just written the syllabus. The government’s draft 2026 quota – authorising a record 430 elephant trophy hunts, the largest anywhere on Earth – has landed with the thud of a dropped tusk” – “Botswana’s huge elephant gamble could destroy its ‘conservation reputation’, say scientists,” Daily Maverick, 16 December 2025

Hunting in the United Kingdom

The long awaited (and promised) Hunting Trophies (Prohibition) Bill is still seemingly on the horizon – The UK government “call for evidence on the scale and impacts of the import and export of hunting trophies” was 2 November 2019 – the consultation closed 25 February 2020 and was overwhelmingly in favour of prohibiting hunting trophy imports/exports:

“… 86% of the 44,000 responses to the public consultation called for tighter restrictions on the import of hunting trophies and a ban has cross-party support in the Commons…” – BBC News, 10 December 2021

Has the result of the consultation been forgotten? No, it has not – the campaign continues, with reassurance that it continues to be supported within parliament.

In July 2025, The Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting co-ordinated the launch of its covert investigations into Britain’s Trophy Hunters (eg. Monkey Business report on British trophy hunting’s involvement in killing primates for fun) and meetings within the UK Parliament to ensure the Labour government honours its pledge to see through the “Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill” to full legislation.

Trail Hunting

Trail hunting is set to be banned in England and Wales as part of a new (22 December 2025) animal welfare strategy from the UK Government:

“This strategy identifies the priority actions for animal welfare to be taken throughout the course of this parliament. These include addressing loopholes around regulations governing the breeding of dogs and cats, banning snare traps, introducing a close season for hares, delivering on the manifesto commitment to ban trail hunting, consulting on phasing out the use of cages in farming, moving away from the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) to stun pigs, and introducing standards for the humane killing of fish.”

The ban on trail hunting is welcomed – “Trail hunting to be banned as part of new animal welfare strategy,” BBC News, 21 December 2025

Trail hunting has been callously used as a smoke screen for hunts to continue (post Hunting Act 2004) the barbaric practice of using a pack of hounds to persecute (and rip to pieces) foxes.

Pro-hunting advocates encourage the use of trail hunting to obfuscate and illegally bypass the ban on fox hunting – Mark Hankinson (director of the Master of Foxhounds Association) was convicted in 2021 of “encouraging and assisting people to evade the ban on fox hunting.”

Of course, the hunt advocates continue to spout the same tired excuse why the practice of trail hunting should be allowed  to continue (and be abused of course) – jobs, all the hounds will be redundant/culled etc.:

“Those who want to ban trail hunting – hounds and horses chasing a scent trail laid by man – would lead to them all being put down. That’s what ignorant ‘animal rights’ campaigners want. 20,000 dead dogs” – Annunziata Rees-Mogg (“Chris Packham blasts ‘tone deaf’ 20,000 dead dogs post,” Devon Live, 27 December 2025)

Of course, if there are any negative consequences for the hounds following a ban on trail hunting, then the hunts themselves are the ones culpable for seeking to find loop-holes to act illegally in the blood lust pursuit of fox hunting with hounds – a relic of a bygone era that it seems some are still unwilling to accept. There are similarities to the captive lion breeding industry in South Africa – saying if the industry is shut down, then all the lions held will need to be euthanised, without a shred of any recognition of culpability in pursing the expansion of such a vile industry in the first place.

Protection for Hares

In addition, the government’s proposed animal welfare strategy seeks to enhance the chances for hares to avoid the onslaught of those that roam the countryside seeking to get thrills by eradicating hares during the breeding season.

 

Contrary to the claim by hunting advocates that the countryside is overpopulated with hares, it is estimated that brown hare populations in England and Wales have declined by 80% over the past century.

“The first principle of conservation is to protect species during their breeding season, so it is excellent news that the government will now create a modern close season on the shooting of hares. Every year, approximately 200,000 hares are killed in organised, commercial shoots during February and March and this has a devastating impact on the orphaned leverets, which are left to starve to death” – George Eustice (former Conservative environment secretary) – “Shooting hares in England to be banned for most of the year,” The Guardian, 20 December 2025

Deer Populations

The rise of unmanaged deer populations in the United Kingdom was recently highlighted, with the issues raised now seen as a priority by conservationists, farmers and the government alike. However, the approach to ‘sustainably’ control deer populations is where the divergence of opinion/options is apparent – “with some more radical-sounding approaches pioneered overseas, including reintroducing wolves to the landscape. The Countryside Alliance, however, says this would be “disastrous”” – “Why Britain has a deer problem – leaving damage that costs millions,” BBC News, 26 December 2025

There is of course deer/stag hunting in Scotland and elsewhere in the United Kingdom – for example,  there is deer trophy hunting in other areas (such as Woburn Abbey) of the UK, with a £6,965 (2018) to kill a “grade A” Père David deer (Elaphurus davidianus) – a very rare breed “Extinct in the wild.“

The income from Scottish deer management is estimated (2016) at approximately £12.5m, with £6.843m derived from “income received from sporting clients” [trophy hunting], but expenditure on deer management was far greater at £43.1m (2016) – so it costs more to manage deer populations than is derived from its sustainable exploitation for income from ‘sporting’ purposes – “The Contribution of Deer Management to the Scottish Economy,“ PACEC,  2016

Are such business practices (to manage deer) justified? Most deer hunting is justified by its proponents as necessary culling to manage deer populations, which after the eradication of any natural predators, then human management (culling) becomes a necessity.

There have been suggestions that rewilding, including predator species, such as lynx and wolves could help manage deer populations (as an alternative/ supplement to human culling deer) – wolves, natural deer predators were driven to extinction in Scotland/England by hunting and persecution in the 1700s.

Reintroductions of lynx into other European countries have been remarkably successful, but with the EU recently announcing farmer compensation schemes to try to ensure farmers remain on-side with such rewilding. In Romania, there is increased reporting of Brown bear attacks, perhaps due to bear population expansion since a 2016 trophy hunting ban to encourage the native wild bears with a chance to recover (which would seem to have been successful). There has to be a balance struck to maintain public support for such re-wilding programmes.

The lynx hunts deer and smaller prey such as rabbits and hare, and is not regarded as a danger to humans. Wolves are also proposed for rewilding in England and Scotland:

“While wolves and sheep may not be the perfect social mix, introducing wolves to Scotland’s deer population could, one study suggest, benefit even the big estate owners (The Royal Society 2007). The overpopulation of deer, while it is pleasing to stalkers, presents them with a major management problem” (Monbiot 2013)

“In this paper, we have suggested one advantage of the reintroduction of wolves—solving some of the difficult issues surrounding deer management in Scotland. We have also shown that the public is quite positive towards wolf reintroduction, which is a prerequisite for a successful reintroduction programme” – (The Royal Society 2007)

However, such rewilding remains a controversial issue, because of feared predation of livestock, such as lambs/sheep. However, The Royal Society 2007 found that livestock farmers in Scotland were not as resistant to such rewilding as expected:

“It is instructive to note, however, that farmer attitudes are less negative than might have been expected, and substantially less negative than the attitudes expressed by their representative organization… So, why are sheep farmers not more strongly opposed to wolf reintroduction? Part of the reason may be that, on average, little or no profit is made directly from sheep by Highland farmers—profits accrue through subsidies. For example, the average profit per sheep farm in the Highlands in 1999–2000 was £24,300, of which £24, 500 was through subsidies…..If farmers are given economic compensation for wolf-killed sheep, the conflict potential need not be too high”

The same logic applies to rewilding lynx and potential livestock predation (though lynx are elusive and with a sufficient natural prey base, are unlikely to trouble sheep herds).

“The lynx effect: are sheep farmers right to fear for their flocks?” The Guardian, 23 July 2017

“Lynx could thrive in Northumberland with most in area supporting return, study finds,” The Guardian, 7 August 2025

It is assumed that the UK’s main trophy hunting revenue is derived from stalking in Scotland, but as stated above) the £12.5m (£6.843m derived from “income received from sporting clients” [trophy hunting]) does not cover the expenditure on deer management (£43.1m) in Scotland. Alternatives to help manage deer populations do exist, such a rewilding. So amateur “sporting clients” indulging their passions for killing deer is not a necessity if rewilding can be successfully introduced.

Scottish Wildcat

The Scottish government and Swedish government owned energy company, Vattenfall remain seemingly hell bent (in the name of logging and industrial windfarm revenues) on destroying one of the few remaining bastions of the the Scottish Wildcat, a rare and endangered species – the Clashindarroch forest.

Wildcat Haven are launching legal action which will include a Judicial Review against Aberdeenshire council – after tampering with wildcat monitoring cameras and illegal logging within the ‘known’ wildcat area of Clashindarroch forest in 2025.

Wild Justice

Another busy year for Wild Justice – including a favourable landmark High Court decision in October 2025:

“The High Court has reaffirmed costs cap protections for NGOs after blocking an attempt by Natural England to hike campaigners’ legal costs in a challenge against badger culling licences ….The judge accepted that the increased caps would force both Wild Justice and Badger Trust to withdraw from the case – which would undermine access to environmental justice“

The judge recognised that such divisive tactics by Natural England should be dismissed if environmental challenges by NGOs are to have any viability. Let’s hope Wild Justice’s challenge to badger culling licences has equal recognition/success in 2026. The tide is certainly turning against the ongoing persecution of badgers and wasted resources, with badger vaccination against Tb now being trialed at last, but greater commitment and investment is obviously required.

Forever Chemicals

In the annual review, we have continued to cover Forever Chemicals (PFAS*) and their negative impact on the environment and health of all living things on Earth:

*Per-and-polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a family of about 10,000 chemicals valued for their non-stick and detergent properties which have made their way into water, soils and sediments from a wide range of consumer products (from frying pans, fabric treatments to cosmetics), firefighting foams, waste and industrial processes.

The Trump administration reportedly pulled funding into the issue in July 2025 – but the toxic nature of PFAS is not just going to go away – “The unlikely alliance pressing Trump to regulate Pfas on US farms: ‘This is a basic human right’,” The Guardian, 27 August 2025

The problem is worldwide and safety/regulation is sluggish (for example, the legal limits for two PFAS in drinking water are not scheduled to take effect in the US until 2031). In the meantime, PFAS continues to bio-accumulate in all those knowingly (or otherwise) exposed.

The estimated cost of UK cleanup will reach £9.9bn a year in UK if emissions of ‘forever chemicals’ remain uncontrolled – “Cost to clean up toxic PFAS pollution could top £1.6tn in UK and Europe,” The Guardian, 14 January 2025

This is an environmental disaster that remains ongoing – to me, it typifies the self-deluded, foolishness of humans (which shows no real signs of diminishing). Action is being taking to try to ‘destroy’ this toxic legacy – time will tell if the technology’s development and investment in it is forthcoming with the urgency required….

 

To close, best wishes to all animal advocates – if only the world listened to the animals!

 

Further Reading

The sad loss of Jane Goodall – “Jane Goodall, world-renowned primatologist, dies aged 91,” The Guardian, 1 October 2025

“Lead ammunition to be banned for hunting and shooting in England, Scotland and Wales,” The Guardian,  10 July 2025

“Cecil – 10 Year Anniversary,” IWB, 1 July 2025

“How the world’s top trophy hunters are killing off leopards,” Daily Maverick, 9 June 2025

The precarious life of hares is highlighted in the book, Raising Hare (Chloe Dalton) – “Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton review – woman meets leveret,” The Guardian, 1 November 2024