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African rhinos 'have more bodyguards than I do' – Prince Williams

Africa

The Duke of Cambridge, Prince Williams, has bemoaned the extent to which African wildlife has been poached leading to radical measures aimed at protecting them.

Prince Williams who in September 2018 visited Kenya, Tanzania and Namibia said it was so bad that some endangered rhinos he saw on the trip had more bodyguards than he did.

“Some of the rhinos I saw are under such threats that they have more bodyguards than I do,” the prince said. He was speaking at the opening of a wildlife protection summit in London on Thursday, October 11.

The fourth Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference, a two-day event hosted by the British government is a conference that aims to eradicate illegal wildlife trade by bringing together political leaders, businesses and conservation groups, the British government said on its website.

The conference was also addressed by presidents of Botswana, Uganda and Gabon. Botswana’s former president Ian Khama was also present as was Tanzania’s minister of Natural Resources and Tourism. Kenya’s First Lady, Margaret Kenyatta, was also part of deliberations.

Prince Williams’ concern of wildlife extinction

Prince William added that it was heartbreaking that his children might not see elephants, rhinos and tigers in the wild and urged stakeholders to tackle illegal wildlife trade.

He said he was not willing to look his children in the eye and tell them his generation allowed for the extinction of animals to take place.

“I am not willing to look my children in the eye and say that we were the generation that let this happen on our watch. It is time to treat the illegal wildlife trade as the serious organised crime that it is.” — The Duke of Cambridge #EndWildlifeCrime pic.twitter.com/xkmKQL8dgx

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) October 11, 2018

The prince is the president of United for Wildlife, which fights illegal trade in wildlife, and patron of Tusk, an organisation that promotes conservation.

The Elephant Protection Initiative, EPI, an advocacy group with footprints across Africa is a key partner to the conference along with others like Conservation International, the Elephant Crisis Fund, the Environmental Investigation Agency among others.