It's about to get a lot more difficult for trophy hunters to bring home the bloodied bodies of the beautiful creatures they've killed overseas.

Emirates Airlines, one of the world's largest carriers of people and cargo, announced this week that it will no longer transport animal trophies of some of the most iconic and imperilled species on the planet - including elephants, rhinos, lions and tigers.

"Please be advised that effective 15th May 2015 Emirates SkyCargo will not accept any kind of animal 'Hunting Trophies' for carriage on Emirates services. This restriction shall be applicable to all animal hunting trophies, protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as well as includes species, that are not threatened with extinction now, meaning all CITES & Non-CITES species," the company said in a statement.

"This decision is to support international governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, that are managing wildlife population towards sustaining the task to eliminate illegal trade and transportation of hunting trophies worldwide and saving wildlife heritage."

The announcement from Emirates comes less than a month after Africa's largest carrier, South African Airways (SAA), made a similar change of policy regarding animal trophies - with the aim being that it would help keep more animals alive:

"The vast majority of tourists visit Africa in particular to witness the wonderful wildlife that remains," SAA's Tim Clyde-Smith told Take Part. "We consider it our duty to work to ensure this is preserved for future generations and that we deter activity that puts this wonderful resource in danger."