Media Releases

Animal Justice Petition Leads Holiday Inn to Drop African Trophy Hunting Expo

TORONTO — Animal Justice, a national animal law organization, is applauding Holiday Inn for cancelling an African trophy hunting expo that was set to take place at the hotel’s Toronto International Airport location in January. The move comes after thousands of people signed an Animal Justice petition encouraging Holiday Inn to help protect animals by dropping the trophy hunting expo.

Organized by pro-trophy hunting groups, the expo would have promoted the cruel and senseless slaughter of majestic animals for trophies by connecting Canadian hunters with African trophy hunting safari outfitters.

“Holiday Inn showed real leadership by standing up against the senseless slaughter of majestic animals on African hunting safaris,” said Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice. “It’s encouraging that more and more companies are refusing to play any role in the trophy hunting industry. The noose is closing around the neck of this cruel practice.”

Holiday Inn announced the cancelation on its Facebook page late on Thursday.

On African trophy hunting safaris, hunters pay for the chance to gun down exotic animals, including elephants, rhinos, hippos, leopards, cheetahs, lions, giraffes, and zebras.

Many animals hunted for trophies in Africa are listed as endangered or threatened under CITES due to poaching, habitat loss, and hunting, yet international law still allows Canadian trophy hunters to brutally kill countless endangered and threatened animals every year. Their bodies are often legally shipped back to Canada to be mounted and displayed by hunters.

In the absence of an effective legal regime to protect exotic animals from becoming trophies, many companies are taking action on their own, including international airlines that refuse to ship animal trophies out of Africa.

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Contact:
Camille Labchuk
Executive Director