Prince William, soccer star David Beckham, and basketball star Yao Ming, made a short video for a WildAid campaign filmed at Wembley Stadium to stop the illegal trade of rhino horn. The short video was made in both English and Mandarin to urge the Chinese to stop the demand and purchase of rhino, as many species of rhinos are near extinction.
As fathers, Prince William, David Beckham, and Yao Ming are speaking out to protect elephants, rhinos, and sharks for future generations.
“As a father I want our children to know that rhinos are not just a picture in a book.”
- The Duke of Cambridge
Watch the WildAid PSA: Prince William, David Beckham, and Yao Ming – Save The Wildlife
Will Prince William destroy Buckingham Palace’s ivory to protest the illegal wildlife trade? Last Thursday Prince William attended the largest global conference held on the horrific illegal wildlife trade with his father, Prince Charles at the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade, hosted by the UK government. He was so moved by the plight of elephants, tigers and rhinos being slaughtered that he told Primatologist Jane Goodall that he would like to see all the ivory owned by Buckingham palace destroyed.
“It would be a demonstration of them putting their money where their mouth is. It would be extremely significant and visual, and might help Britons hand in their ivory, illegal or legal,” said conservationist Dr. Paula Kahumbu.
The 46 countries partaking in the conference created a strongly worded declaration to renounce the use of products from species threatened with extinction. The declaration also pledged to put the trafficking in illegal wildlife products on the same list as trafficking drugs, arms and people.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is working with multiple partners globally to stop the poaching and slaughter of 96 elephants per day for tusks/ivory in Africa’s Congo Basin. In 2012 poachers killed some 35,000 African elephants.
The statistics stating the acceleration in elephant killing is alarming, and at the current rate if something isn’t done to protect the elephants globally they do face possible extinction within ten years. In 1980 there were 1,200,000 African elephants, by 2012 that number dropped to 420,000.
The reason for the elephant slaughter is rising poaching, ivory trafficking, and the quickly escalating demand by wealthy Asian consumers. Organized crime syndicates control the trafficking. Unfortunately, New York City also has a huge ivory product consumer base –Boycott!
In fact, illegal poaching and wildlife trafficking is the fourth largest transnational crime. Ivory is sometimes called “the white gold of jihad”, and helps fund the military operations of notorious terrorist groups. Smuggling gangs move tons of tusks to markets thousands of miles away.
The WCS is putting out a call to action to help save the African elephants under a Clinton Global Initiative Commitment (CGI) to action, along with the African Wildlife Foundation, Conservation International, International Fund for Animal Welfare, World Wildlife Fund, and 11 other non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The leaders of several African nations took the stage at the 2013 Clinton Global Initiative and asked the world to stand behind them with an ivory moratorium. Through their growing commitment, WCS, as well as other conservation organizations, governments, and concerned citizens, are determined to stop the killing, stop the trafficking, and stop the demand.
Seventy percent of illegal ivory ends up in China, but most don’t know their actions lead to elephant killing. Through cultural change, participation, and social media, WCS hopes that Chinese citizens will demand public action by their government.
Elephants have lived on the planet for a very very long time. The fossil record indicates that more than 300 species of elephants have walked the earth over a period of 55 million years (maybe that’s why they have such great memories). We should defend the African elephants against greed, protect and shelter them in their natural habitats where they can roam free for millions of more years. It would be a sad commentary on our present humanity if these majestic creatures go extinct on our watch.
Get involved, post, share, like and bark about it to all your friends and family. Together we can make a difference – African elephants need our help – they’ll never forget!
To learn more and contribute visit the Wildlife Conservation Society: wcs.org
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