Well done Belgium 🇧🇪. In late January 2024, Belgium's Parliament voted unanimously to ban the import of hunting trophies from endangered and threatened species. The vote reflected public opinion: 91 percent of Belgians oppose trophy hunting and 88 percent supported the ban. Belgium's own Environment Minister was candid about the law's limits: "It's a political signal." Import licences could still be issued by other EU countries — and from 2014 to 2022, only around 500 out of 25,000 trophies imported across the EU entered through Belgium. On December 18, 2025, Belgium's Constitutional Court upheld the law, rejecting a legal challenge and confirming protections for elephants, lions, rhinos, and dozens of other at-risk species. The law now stands on firm legal ground. At the same time, South Africa — one of the world's largest trophy hunting destinations — has moved in the opposite direction, reopening its doors to trophy hunters as Belgium was closing its own. An EU-wide import ban has not materialized. The European Parliament called for one in October 2022. Nothing has happened since. Loopholes in existing EU law still allow trophies to enter as "personal items" with the right permits. Belgium's ban holds. The EU-wide gap does not. Sources: Humane World for Animals: Belgium bans the import of hunting trophies Species Unite: While Belgium Protects Wildlife, South Africa Opens the Door World Animal News: Victory — Belgium Bans Trophy Hunting Imports