17 March 2023 , 06:42
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A former top transplant surgeon has been named as a prolific trophy hunter accused of killing dozens of animals including buffaloes.
Campaigners say Prof Michael Thick and his wife Catherine imported hides from their kills back to Britain to turn them into jackets and bags.
The former professor of genomics was named among 100 British trophy hunters by investigators for the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting.
According to a book, Saving Sally: Trophy Hunters’ Secrets and Lies, written by the campaign’s founder Eduardo Goncalves, the couple shot 36 or 37 animals during their most recent safari in South Africa.
Thick, 72, boasted a successful medical career as a former director of liver and renal transplantation and later became a chief clinical officer for IT in the NHS. He and his wife are now understood to run a beekeeping apiary in Thetford, Norfolk.
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Derek Stocker is the owner of ProStalk, a British trophy hunting company (Internet Unknown)Details of their alleged trophy hunting have emerged as MPs prepare for a Commons battle today on banning imported trophies from safari animals.
Match of the Day host Gary Lineker has signed a letter backing the Mirror’s campaign to outlaw the vile sport, and ban “trophies” from being imported.
Derek Stocker, of ProStalk Safaris, said the haul from the 2020 trip included “two buffaloes, giraffe, wildebeest”, according to the book. It added Stocker said Prof Thick cut the tips off the horns of the buffaloes and put them in his pocket, saying: “I’ve got enough trophies.”
British trophy hunter Steve Bull (Collect Unknown)Rob Klemp, a professional hunting guide in South Africa, said of Thick: “Him and his wife were here, they were very, very good hunters.
“They both shot buffalo. They both shot a lot of stuff.”
Mrs Thick, 63, is quoted telling investigators: “I shot blesbok, springbok, hartebeest, warthog, buffalo, ostrich. I enjoyed the shooting. I had a lot of skins prepared because I wanted to make jackets and bags and things like that.”
ProStalk sells trophy hunting trips to rich tourists (Internet Unknown)However Mrs Thick told The Times: “We are not seasoned trophy hunters.”
She added they had gone on a safari but facts in Goncalves’s book were incorrect. Her husband declined to comment to the paper.
The Mirror also attempted to contact the Thicks for comment.
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A ban on British hunters bringing home sick ‘trophies’ of animals they’ve killed for fun has been promised by the government since 2019.
It was in Labour’s election manifesto. It’s backed by MPs of EVERY party.
On Friday, MPs finally get to vote on it. But only 28 MPs say they’re coming.
This means a vote would be invalid - and the ban will fail. Just because not enough MPs could be bothered to turn up.
Over 8 out of 10 voters say their MP must come and vote for it, according to a new poll.
We’ve been waiting 3 years for this bill. Tell your MP to come to the Commons – and stop British hunters killing lions and elephants for kicks.
Please contact your MP.