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The heart of the Apuan Alps in Tuscany, Italy, is home to one of the biggest marble mines in the world, with about 160 active quarries in the Massa Carrara and Lucca areas. Since Roman times, creamy-white Carrara marble has been dug out of these mountains. It is the most sought-after marble in the world, and has inspired artists and architects everywhere.

The Italian alpine newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris apuana). Photograph: Manuel Micheli

But the Apuan Alps also host an ecosystem that is home to the Italian alpine newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris apuana). In November, Manuel Micheli, a photographer working with the Apuane Libere organisation, stumbled across the newt in Crespina 2, a decommissioned quarry.

“Between my feet, I found a small newt out of the water. Looking closer, I saw several dozen of them,” he says. The newt is protected by Italian law and categorised as “near threatened” on the IUCN red list of threatened species.

“It was incredible to discover such a group,” says Gianluca Briccolani, the co-founder of Apuane Libere, a volunteer organisation formed in 2021 to protect the mountains from environmental degradation, including water contamination caused by the heavy industrialisation of the marble industry.

A volunteer from Apuane Libere waves the group’s flag above a quarry in Carrara, Italy. Photograph: Manuel Micheli

Cava Crespina 2 lies under Monte Sagro and overlooks the Mediterranean. It was closed in 2014 and became a perfect place for newt reproduction thanks to an underground spring and rainwater filtration in conjunction with the lake’s impermeabilisation, caused by marble dust waste (marmettola).

Since Micheli’s discovery, the newt population has grown – and the scientific and local community has mobilised to protect the newts. Plans to reopen the quarry were halted earlier this month by Unesco and the Apuan Park.

“Last year, we counted at least three dozen newts in different life stages,” says the herpetologist Gabriele Martinucci. “This was a sensational discovery because it means they live in the quarry throughout the entire year. It’s a demonstration that, even in places transformed by industrial activities, nature can give life to something that wasn’t there, such as the newts.” But campaigners worry that the quarry could be reopened in the future.

The lake inside the Valsora quarry, now partly closed to safeguard a colony of Italian alpine newts. Photograph: Manuel Micheli

In another nearby quarry that is active, the owner has experimented with extracting marble during the week, and at the weekend opening the quarry to visitors who want to see the newts – and are willing to buy an €8 entry ticket.

If the Crespina 2 quarry were to reopen, however, the newts there would need to be moved because the excavation would affect the lake where they live, says Apuane Libere.

“We want to do everything to protect the newts,” says Briccolani. “Marble quarrying has nothing to do with art. Entire blocks of marble are crushed to create the calcium carbonate that we find, for example, in our toothpaste. The well-known Carrara marble is no longer used to make the future Davids by Michelangelo, but ends up crumbled or, at most, in the kitchens and bathrooms of a very few rich people.”

A crowd gathers to protest against the reopening of quarries near Lucca in Tuscany. Photograph: Manuel Micheli

It isn’t just newts that are threatened, say campaigners. The Apuan Alps chain hosts about 30% of endemic national flora, including a rare cornflower that grows on the slopes of Mount Borla. But the newts have become “a symbol of the resilience of Apuan biodiversity”, says Andrea Ribolini of the Italian Alpine Club.

Many of those protecting the environment in the area are the children of former quarry workers, including Alberto Grossi, a longstanding activist and group manager for the Apuan Alps of the Legal Intervention Group, an Italian ecological association. “Even if we come from families of quarry workers, now we hate this current system,” he says.

Guido Dazzi, a fellow environmentalist, says: “I’m 60 years old and my father was a quarry worker. I come here to monitor whenever I can. We are the only pocket of resistance in this territory.”

Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features

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Beavers will return to west London for the first time in 400 years after receiving funding from the capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan.

A breeding pair of Eurasian beavers could arrive at their new home in Paradise Fields, Ealing, as soon as this autumn.

Conservation groups received £40,000 from the mayor of London to create the publicly accessible reintroduction site, the first of its kind in an urban setting in the UK.

It is viewed as an important step in the rewilding project as wild beaver populations in Kent and Oxfordshire move closer to London.

Dr Sean McCormack, vet and chair of the Ealing Wildlife Group, said: “Many people assume beavers are a wilderness species, when in fact we’ve just forgotten how closely we used to live alongside them.

“We’re so excited to study how beavers interact with an urban river catchment and, crucially, with urban communities.”

The group hopes the planned wetland will show how beavers can be managed in an urban setting, including monitoring flood mitigation effects.

“We are hoping to challenge perceptions, and demonstrate how London, too, can embrace these ecosystem engineers as we strive for a healthier, wilder future in which our capital can become a leader in urban rewilding,” added Elliot Newton, co-founder of the rewilding organisation Citizen Zoo.

The project is one of 22 across the capital to receive mayoral support as part of the Rewild London Fund.

Khan said: “Despite the harm inflicted on the natural world, we have the power to make amends, and I am committed to ensuring that London is at the vanguard of efforts to reverse the trends of declining biodiversity and the destruction of nature.

“Rewilding allows nature to take the lead and is an exciting way to create healthier ecosystems and allow humans and wildlife to live together more harmoniously.”

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Beavers were hunted to extinction in Britain 400 years ago for their fur, glands and meat. They have begun to reappear after the government-licensed beaver releases within enclosures, as well as illegal releases taking place around the country.

Some experts suggests there are hundreds of beavers living wild along England’s waterways.

In 2022, beavers were given legal protection in England, making it illegal to kill or harm them as they are formally recognised as native wildlife.

Environmentalists hope the upcoming beaver strategy will pave the way for this beloved rodent to be released to roam wild.

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Drought is threatening some British moth species with local extinction, a study has found, as the insects are no longer being seen in areas which are becoming drier and hotter.

The new research, published today by wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation and Northumbria University, looked at data gathered over a 40-year period by volunteers of Butterfly Conservation’s National Moth Recording Scheme.

It found that cool-adapted moths, which once thrived in many habitats in Britain, have retreated towards the north-west where temperatures are lower, with some species dying out completely in warmer, drier more southerly and easterly parts. Most of the cool-adapted moth species have declined in number in recent decades.

One moth that has suffered is the garden tiger, whose numbers fell by an alarming 89% between 1968 and 2002. The caterpillars are adapted to survive long frosty winters.

Scientists said these local extinctions occurred in the warmest parts of Britain, but that the threat to the moths was greatly reduced where annual rainfall was also high. While further research is needed as to why this is, researchers said it could be because the plants that the moths’ caterpillars rely upon for food survive better when there is more rainfall.

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Conservationists have called for water availability in the landscape to be prioritised as a response to climate breakdown, for example by reducing overgrazing by livestock, increasing tree cover, slowing down rivers and restoring peatlands. All of these activities would retain water which would benefit moths and other wildlife.

Dr Lisbeth Hordley, a postdoctoral researcher at Butterfly Conservation and lead author of the study, said: “Cold-adapted species, like the British moths in our study, are likely to be the first to struggle as the climate warms. Unfortunately, as climate change worsens, more areas in Britain will see the high temperatures that are driving these moths to extinction, so adapting land management to increase water retention is even more important to safeguard such species.”

As the climate continues to change, the UK is becoming more susceptible to droughts, with a bout of dry weather last year causing record-breaking low rivers, which is continuing to have effects this year.

Dr Richard Fox, head of science at Butterfly Conservation and co-author of the research, added: “Thanks to the efforts of thousands of volunteer moth recorders over the past 40 years, we now know that there is a strong link between warming temperatures and the decline of many species that live in cooler parts of Britain. Although that’s really bad news for the insects, the records gathered by these citizen scientists have also shown how we can increase the resilience of these species, at the same time as benefiting people, by retaining more water in river catchments.

“Existing Butterfly Conservation projects such as the Bog Squad, which is re-wetting damaged peat bogs in Scotland, are already providing such benefits but much more is required to protect wildlife and people as the climate crisis grows.”

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Non-native house mice are to be removed from Marion Island in the southern Indian Ocean to protect the wandering albatross and other endangered seabirds, in the world’s largest eradication programme of its kind.

Mice accidentally introduced on to the remote island by 19th-century seal hunters have thrived in warmer and drier conditions over the past 30 years, devastating the island’s invertebrates and plants, and then devouring the chicks and even adults of ground- and burrow-nesting seabirds.

Marion Island, an uninhabited sub-Antarctic island ravaged by wind 1,370 miles (2,200km) of Cape Town, hosts millions of breeding seabirds, including four species of penguin and a quarter of the world’s wandering albatrosses. Without action against the mice, the albatross is predicted to become extinct on the island, along with 18 of the 28 seabird species currently breeding there.

“The need is urgent and clear for Marion Island’s globally important seabirds which include the iconic wandering albatross, other albatrosses, petrels and prions,” said Keith Springer, the operations manager for the Mouse-Free Marion project.

The sooty albatross, which returns to the same breeding grounds each year, is an endangered species. Photograph: Otto Whitehead/Marion Island

“While the removal of mice from Marion Island brings clear benefits to the birds and other animal and plant species that live there, the value of this conservation intervention reaches far beyond the island’s shoreline. Marion Island’s seabirds are members of a regional seabird community innately connected to the functioning and health of the sub-Antarctic region.”

A fleet of helicopters will first be brought by sea from South Africa across the “roaring forties”, the notoriously strong westerly winds in the Southern Ocean. In the southern hemisphere winter of 2025, these will be used to spread rodenticide bait across all 30,000 hectares of the island. This is the only method that has proven successful in eradicating rodents from large islands, such as South Georgia.

Removing invasive species from small islands has been shown to be one of the most effective ways of restoring island ecosystems and boosting biodiversity, with humanity’s spread of rodents, cats and foxes one of the key drivers of extinction for the unique species often found there.

The Marion Islands are home to a quarter of the world’s wandering albatross population. Photograph: Otto Whitehead/Marion Island

In 2018, a decade-long project to remove rats and mice from South Georgia was declared a success, while smaller-scale rodent eradication projects have revived seabird populations on British islands including Lundy, Ramsey and the Shiants.

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But eradication operations on inaccessible and rugged islands are notoriously difficult and a major operation to remove mice from Gough Island in the south Atlantic has not yet proved successful.

The Mouse-Free Marion project, the largest yet attempted in a single operation, is a partnership between the South African government and BirdLife South Africa. The charity has established a special not-for-profit company to deliver the eradication, with additional support from BirdLife International, the RSPB and other conservation organisations.

Mark D Anderson, chief executive of BirdLife South Africa, said: “Removing mice from Marion Island will help secure the ecological integrity of this important sub-Antarctic island as well as the future for the millions of birds who live there. But it means much more than that, as it will leave a significant and lasting conservation legacy even beyond saving iconic seabirds as it will restore an important island ecosystem.”

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A former African president who banned trophy hunting has urged MPs to attend a vital vote next week “to halt the reckless, cruel destruction of the world’s wonderful wildlife by nature’s enemies.”

Ian Khama, 70, who criminalised trophy-hunting in 2014 during his decade in office as the president of Botswana, warned that every day without a ban on imports took elephants nearer to extinction.

He also brought in a shoot-to-kill policy on poachers but current president Mokgweetsi Masisi overturned the ban and disbanded anti-poaching units.

He has now joined the Mirror’s campaign to end exports and urged MP’s to attend next Friday’s vote saying: “Britain will gain a great deal of international respect by acting on this issue and should be a voice of conscience in the world.”

He added: “The UK should strive to do all it can to help protect our shared natural heritage.”

Ian Khama while he was Botswana’s president in 2018 ( Image: AFP via Getty Images)

“The world’s wildlife is in crisis. There were 200,000 lions in the 1970s – now there may be just 10,000-20,000. There are fewer than 7,000 cheetahs.

“The number of black rhinos is 3,000. The numbers of polar bears, elephants and leopards are declining and all face a very real danger of becoming extinct. Yet it remains perfectly legal for anyone to claim they are a trophy hunter and shoot one of these magnificent creatures for their own entertainment.”

His plea comes as MPs gear up for a vote on Friday with Mirror readers being asked to help support by contacting their local representative urging them to attend.

”Trophy hunters lure endangered animals out of national parks where they are protected so they can get away with killing them. They shoot the best male specimens for the best trophies thus seriously damaging the structure and gene pool in lions and elephants for generations,” he said.

Alex Goss, British boss of Blackthorn Safaris, organises hunting trips ( Image: Internet Unknown)

“These people are shameless. Surely for a white hunter to fly to Africa to kill our endangered animals for pleasure and pose next to them grinning is the most colonial thing you can possibly imagine?

“African people are not allowed to kill those animals even if they are hungry. Yet rich white British and American hunters feel it is their God-given right to bear arms and kill animals for ‘sport’, selfies and souvenirs.”

“The industry is rich and powerful, and will stop at nothing to get its way. We must not allow these people to win.”

Khama, who was born in Chertsey, Surrey, said that during his time in office Botswana lost just one rhino to poachers and in 2018 the African nation had twice as many elephants as any other country on the continent.

He explained: “We knew photo safaris were a much better alternative. They protect the animals from poachers because there are tour parties out all the time. They bring more opportunities for people.

“And it meant we were playing our part in preserving our planet. To kill an animal simply for a ‘trophy’ is immoral. Humans have no right to do this.”

The former president said that areas that had been devoid of any wildlife saw animals return after his ban on hunting. Elephants which had also come to associate people and vehicles with killing were no longer hostile “because they weren’t being persecuted any more”.

He added: ”I had deployed the military to take on the poachers. Yet just down the road, you had trophy hunters shooting the very same animals. It made no sense to tell soldiers to protect elephants from poachers when they were being simultaneously shot by trophy hunters.”

He pleaded: “We must all work together to halt the reckless, cruel destruction of the world’s wonderful wildlife by nature’s enemies – the trophy hunters.”

This article by Nada Farhoud was first published by The Mirror on 12 March 2023. Lead Image: Manish Ghelabhai, a Norfolk gas engineer poses with a lion he killed on a hunting trip in South Africa (Image: Collect Unknown).

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From scaring endangered birds on their nests to the mountain of excrement they produce each day, dogs with irresponsible owners are a growing problem in UK nature reserves, say conservationists, who are urging owners to keep their pets on a short lead.

The Wildlife Trusts, which operate more than 2,300 nature reserves across the country, say loose dogs are a leading cause of plant and animal disturbances in UK reserves and their waste carries diseases for wildlife, with growing evidence that the 3,000 tonnes of faeces and urine produced by dogs each day disturbs the balance of ecosystems at levels that would be illegal on farmland.

Owners of the UK’s 13 million dogs are being encouraged to stick to paths and avoid walking groups of dogs in nature reserves this spring and summer to protect wildlife during the breeding season. They are also being asked to clean up waste and, where possible, stop dogs jumping in ponds.

Attacks on livestock are a persistent problem in nature reserves, sometimes resulting in the death of cows, sheep and other animals that might be maintaining grassland ecosystems.

While it’s tempting in warm weather, dogs jumping in ponds disturb wildlife and their flea treatments can poison waterways. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

People are also being reminded that dogs must be on leads no longer than 2 metres between 1 March and 31 July on open access land to protect ground-nesting birds, such as nightjars, willow warblers and meadow pipits. Oystercatchers, ringed plovers and little terns nest on beaches and are also easy to disturb. If a dog is seen worrying livestock, the landowner can legally kill the dog.

Dozens of cases across the country of wildlife and livestock being damaged by dogs have been documented by the Wildlife Trusts. In Little Woolden Moss, Salford, dogs chase away curlews, lapwings and little ringed plovers, sometimes killing chicks in their nest. In Kent, there were at least eight dog attacks on Wildlife Trust staff and livestock, with 13 sheep killed. Dogs jumping in ponds can disturb wildlife, while their flea treatments pollute and poison ponds and other waterways.

“Dogs are not the problem – it is the owners that are the problem,” said Duncan Hutt, Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s director of conservation, who has a cocker spaniel. “Whether it is through lack of knowledge or lack of care, their dogs come first before anything else, including wildlife.”

A beach-nesting tern with its chick. Owners are being encouraged to stick to paths and avoid walking large groups of dogs in nature reserves to protect wildlife during the breeding season. Photograph: Harry Collins/Alamy

Becky Austin, nature reserves assistant at Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and a former dog owner, said there had been an increase in dog ownership since the pandemic and that while they wanted people to enjoy their reserves, their pets needed to be kept under control.

“There’s a lot of activity happening away from paths. People don’t have sight of their dogs, which causes problems for wildlife and other people who are visiting with children or those who might be nervous of dogs,” she said.

“Owners often say ‘they never catch or hurt anything’ but the main issue is the stress of a predator moving through a landscape. The perception is that if your dog isn’t bringing something dead back or attacking something it’s fine.”

At Holkham national nature reserve in Norfolk, one of the UK’s most important bird habitat sites, there are restrictions on dog walkers for parts of the year to help protect wildlife. But Jake Fiennes, conservation manager on the estate and owner of a cocker spaniel, said he did not support a ban on dog walkers in nature reserves.

“I’m a dog owner. I fully understand the importance of where I take them at particular times of year and I do not take them, knowing the impacts that they cause. We’re trying to improve people’s understanding of the impacts of irresponsible dog ownership,” he said.

“I politely asked a woman who was exercising four dogs to vacate an area that wasn’t public access the other day. She was a professional dog walker in the middle of some sensitive parts of the reserve. That really frustrates me because that’s down to poor education,” said Fiennes.

Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features

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The UK’s first wild bison in millennia have been joined by iron-age pigs, Exmoor ponies and longhorn cattle as the rewilding project moves forward in creating a rich and natural new habitat.

The Wilder Blean project in Kent is deploying the animals to replicate the roles played by mega-herbivores when bison, aurochs and wild horses roamed prehistoric England. The animals will be closely monitored as they transform a former commercial pine plantation into a wild wood.

Longhorn cattle in the Kent woods. Photograph: Donovan Wright

The ancient breeds act as ecosystem engineers, with the bison stripping bark from trees and creating the deadwood needed by insects, as well as trampling down corridors of light to spur new plant growth. The ponies complement this by clearing soft vegetation, while the pigs dig around looking for roots and bulbs, spurring new seeds to germinate. The longhorn cattle open up the tree canopy and their actions will be compared with those of the bison. All the changes will encourage bats, birds and other creatures to thrive.

“This is where the project really starts to come to fruition,” said Paul Hadaway, of Kent Wildlife Trust (KWT), which runs the project along with the Wildwood Trust. “We’ve had the bison now for eight months settling into this site and doing some amazing stuff. But the intention was always to have as close to a natural grazing assemblage as we could recreate.

“If you go back to when these English woodlands first evolved, they would have had mega-herbivores. So this is about returning back to that kind of natural management, to create a much more climate-resilient, adaptable landscape. The pigs are each capable of ploughing about four acres of land a year.”

Alison Ruyter, also of KWT, said: “Wilder grazing is about using native wild breeds of livestock to mimic the things that mega-herbivores would have done in the past when wild horses, aurochs and bison roamed around the country.”

The five-strong bison herd was completed in December with the arrival of the bull. The surprise birth of a calf was revealed in October. One of the females was already pregnant on arrival in Kent, but bison disguise their pregnancies in order to avoid being targeted by predators.

Exmoor ponies are expected to clear soft vegetation. Photograph: Donovan Wright

The bison and cattle herds will be accompanied by ponies, with the pigs moving between the two groups. The rewilding success of each group will be compared with an area with no large herbivores and managed by humans.

All 9,000 bison living in Europe today are descended from just 12 zoo animals, which rescued the species from extinction in the early 20th century. The Kent bison are currently in a 50-hectare (123-acre) area. But this should expand to 200 hectares in the summer once large tunnels are built to enable the gentle giants to cross public footpaths without encountering people.

Bison in Kent. Photograph: Donovan Wright

Rewilding is of increasing interest to conservationists in the UK, where populations of the UK’s most important wildlife have plummeted by an average of 60% since 1970. Intensive farming has left Britain as one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world.

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In the silence after the final whistle you can hear the blackbirds sing, or perhaps a chaffinch or a Sardinian warbler. Or, if night has already fallen, you may see the bats swoop low over the centre circle as the fans shuffle towards the exits. This is the Spotify Camp Nou, the home of Barcelona football club … but also of myriad creatures.

Barcelona is probably the first major football club in the world to produce a guide to its stadium’s wildlife, after carrying out a census of its animal occupants. The guide is part of the club rethinking its role in the community and its environmental impact, says Jordi Portabella, an environmentalist and former candidate for mayor of the city, now in charge of developing the club’s sustainability policy.

Portabella explains that a wildlife census was needed before the football season ends in May, when work will begin on remodelling the stadium. This will entail demolishing the entire upper stand to increase capacity from 99,354 to 105,000 spectators, work that will affect the many birds that nest there, as well as the colony of bats.

They are taking measures to protect the nests as best they can, says Portabella, and to establish new nesting areas to ensure the birds return when work is complete. Migratory species such as swallows and martins have been nesting on the exterior or inside the roof of the stadium since it was built in 1957.

There’s an historical coexistence based on mutual respect. Up in the stands, we’re used to having bats flying around us

Jordi Portabella, environmentalist

“There’s an historical coexistence based on mutual respect,” says Portabella. “It’s as though the humans and the animals have come to a tacit agreement. For example, up in the stands we’re used to having bats flying around us during a match.”

The bats have made their home close to the tribuna, the seats reserved for the club president and the crème de la crème of Catalan society.

The census was carried out by a specialist company that says the site is like an oval cliff face surrounded by trees, providing a habitat for cliff-dwelling and woodland species. Thirty-four species were counted, 31 of them birds, along with two reptiles and one mammal – the bats.

The club says that scrupulous hygiene measures ensure there are no rats. Squirrels have made the odd cameo during matches but are not resident.

Prime perch: a magpie on the goalpost at the Camp Nou stadium. Photograph: Reuters, Alamy

Among the birds, researchers found two species of swift, two martins, two types of swallow and three varieties of tit. There are also three species of parakeet, none native; they are descended from escaped pets and are now widely seen in city parks throughout Spain.

As well as urban regulars such as pigeons, gulls, starlings and magpies, the team encountered collared doves, three species of finch, pied flycatchers, firecrests, Sardinian warblers and white wagtails.

A pair of kestrels have bred in the stadium and peregrine falcons, nesting in a nearby university building, hunt around the ground. The falcons are one of only seven pairs in the city. The birds were reintroduced in Barcelona a few years ago after being driven to extinction at the end of the last century.

The two reptiles discovered are a gecko and a common wall lizard of the sort you would find on any balcony in the city in summer.

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Stadiums are unique in the urban landscape, occupying large areas in the city centre, inactive for most of the week, then interrupted by a surge of activity over a few hours when tens of thousands of fans converge, consuming large quantities of food, drink and electricity, briefly saturating public transport and the surrounding public space.

Portabella says the club is very conscious of its environmental impact and envisages what he calls the “Barça space”, converting the surrounding area, much of it a bleak concrete heat-sink in summer, into something more like a large city square, softened with trees and green spaces.

“Barça wants to be part of the solution to the problem of climate change, not part of the problem,” he says, adding that everything from electricity generation, water consumption and waste production is being analysed in order to minimise environmental impact.

While few of Europe’s big clubs have fully embraced environmental change, Barça could look to the semi-professional English club Dartford FC in Kent for inspiration. A model of environmental consciousness, the roof over the stand at its Princes Park stadium (capacity 4,100) is covered in vegetation to improve insulation, electricity comes from solar panels and rainwater is collected to water the pitch, which is laid below ground level to reduce light and noise pollution.

Meanwhile, Barça has added wildlife to its boast of being “more than a club”. However, as football coaches never tire of repeating, what matters is what happens on the pitch. The rest is for the birds.

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MPs have voted to support a controversial ban on importing hunting trophies from thousands of species into the UK, preventing British hunters from bringing the body parts of lions, elephants and giraffes into the country.

A private member’s bill put forward by the Conservative MP Henry Smith and backed by the government received the support of parliament after years of divisive debate on the issue. MPs from across the political spectrum spoke in favour of the legislation before it passed.

The government says the law, which will now move for debate in the Lords, will strengthen the conservation of endangered species and has widespread support from the British public. The ban was part of the 2019 Conservative election manifesto and comes after a high-profile anti-trophy hunting campaign backed by celebrities including Ricky Gervais, Brian May, Ed Sheeran and Joanna Lumley.

But many scientists, environmentalists and African community leaders have said the new law could inadvertently accelerate the loss of wildlife, and accused celebrity campaigners of “neocolonialism”. They point to the contributions of regulated trophy hunting to the recovery of populations of black and white rhino in Namibia and South Africa and the snow leopard in Tajikistan.

Amid strong views on both sides and accusations of misinformation from pro-hunting groups and anti-trophy hunting campaigners, MPs backed an amendment from Sir Christopher Chope to create an expert advisory board on the import ban. The ban will cover about 6,000 species and include some of the most endangered and charismatic animals, including hippos, leopards and polar bears.

British hunters are not a large part of the trophy hunting industry and the ban is considered largely symbolic by conservationists. In 2015, the killing of Cecil the lion by a trophy hunter in Zimbabwe provoked global outrage and revulsion at the industry, where hunters pay tens of thousands of pounds to shoot and pose with the bodies of wild animals.

The actor Peter Egan, a prominent anti-trophy hunting campaigner, said the vote was “sensational” news.

Claire Bass, a senior director of campaigns and public affairs at Humane Society International-UK, also welcomed the vote. “We’re delighted that this extremely popular bill has passed its report stage and third reading, with dozens of cross-party MPs taking the floor in today’s debate to share their strong support for legislation to stop hunters bringing their sick souvenirs back to the UK. We … look to the House of Lords to ensure swift passage of this vital law,” she said.

But others expressed their disappointment and urged the Lords to oppose the law in its current form.

“It is bitterly disappointing MPs have succumbed to an emotive but misinformed animal rights campaign”, said Amy Dickman, an Oxford University professor who is an expert on lion conservation. “This bill will kill more animals than it will save. Hopes for a rational, evidence-based debate now rest in the House of Lords.”

Maxi Pia Louis, a community leader from Namibia, said she was disappointed that the voices of Africans had not been heard. “Britain has ignored our numerous attempts to engage. What is the purpose of the diplomatic ties we supposedly share? This bill will make African communities poorer for many years to come,” she said.

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The international biodiversity minister, Trudy Harrison, said the vote was a pivotal moment. “Using an internationally agreed list of species, this will play an important part in helping reverse the decline of wildlife across the world. I look forward to it becoming an act of parliament,” she said.

Henry Smith, the MP who led the private member’s bill, said the government was delivering on its 2019 manifesto commitment. “I’m grateful to the government for supporting my … bill and I look forward to it now progressing through the House of Lords. Our country does not want to be part of a trade in the body parts of endangered species. Today the Commons sent this message loud and clear,” he said.

Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features

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