A Tory MP today likened trophy hunters to paedophiles as he lashed out at "gratification of the most revolting kind".
Sir Roger Gale made the remarks in support of a bill banning British hunters from bringing back skins, severed heads and carcasses from animals they have shot abroad.
But a Tory critic of the move told MPs that legislating over trophy hunters was "racist".
The government faces calls to bring in the ban as soon as possible in a bid to tackle cruel bloodsports which supporters say leaves species such as hippos and endangered elephants from extinction.
A Private Member's Bill calling for the ban put forward by Tory MP Henry Smith cleared its first hurdle today, as it was backed by MPs and will now move forward to the committee stage.
Although it would not bring the practice to an end, MPs heard that preventing hunters from bringing their spoils home would dent the trade. The Mirror is campaigning to end trophy hunting.
Sir Roger fumed: "What we're talking about is gratification of the most revolting kind that I would compare with paedophilia.
"If you're rich enough you can go anywhere in the world and buy anything you want, and this is just another form of vile gratification."
He added: "The breeding in captivity of wild magnificent animals purely for the purpose of being shot so that their body parts can be displayed on somebody's floor or somebody's wall, that is what this bill is seeking to prevent in the United Kingdom and it has my full support."
Tory Sir Mike Penning echoed of trophy hunters: "They're cowards and we will be cowards if we don't put this bill through today."
But Tory MP Sir Bill Wiggin said that the move does not have support in Africa, stating: "Telling Africans however you choose to cushion the message, how to manage their wildlife seems to me to be fundamental and wrong, fundamental and possibly racist.
"I can't stand by and allow this to go uncriticised. In fairness to my honourable friends, my unhappiness at the racist elements in this message are not a reflection on their views.
"To me we must stand up to racism in whatever form it takes.
He continued: "It's this racist issue that is the problem for me."
Introducing his Bill, Tory MP Henry Smith said: "Sadly British trophy hunters are among the most active killers of endangered species.
"In recent years British trophy hunters have imported thousands of body parts as macabre souvenirs into the UK."
He added: "This Bill is not about what happens in Africa... this Bill is about UK import policy. It's about what we as a sovereign nation choose to allow through our borders.
"And it's a Bill about Britain making a concrete contribution to tackling the global conservation crisis.
"A British ban on imports of hunting trophies would help save thousands of animals that are threatened with extinction. It would make a strong statement to the international community that we must act decisively to conserve our living planet."
The bill received cross-bench support, with Labour's Ruth Jones saying: "I am disgusted by the cruel damaging and outdated practice of trophy hunting. We know tens of thousands of animals are killed every year purely for fun, so that people can take photos, cut up a body part and bring it home as a souvenir.
"We know that trophy hunters seek out the largest and strongest and rarest animals for bragging rights."
She added that there had been "catastrophic" drops in the numbers of rare animals.
He told the House that the most popular body parts brought back from Africa are from elephants, hippos, leopards, zebras and lions.
Mr Smith added: "Trophy hunters now shoot so many elephants that if you add up the number of those poached more elephants are killed each year than are born.
"Moreover trophy hunters are shooting the biggest elephants with the biggest tusks. This is leading to natural selection."
He told MPs that hippos, zebras and leopards are vulnerable to extinction, and said that killing those with the "best genes" were being killed - making species even more vulnerable.
New Environment Secretary Therese Coffey is under pressure to back Conservative Mr Smith’s Private Member’s Bill introducing a ban - a measure included in the 2019 Tory manifesto and the party’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare.
Page 54 of the election blueprint pledged: “We will … ban imports from trophy hunting of endangered animals.”
It was also included in Labour's 2019 manifesto.
Mr Smith previously wrote in The Mirror : “Like most ordinary Brits, I cannot understand why anyone would kill an animal for ‘sport’ and a souvenir.
“It’s disgusting – and madness at a time when so much wildlife is at risk of extinction."
