Prince William has made a passionate plea to end the illegal trade in ivory from elephants and rhinos, saying he is, “not prepared to be part of a generation that lets these iconic species disappear.”
William: Don’t let elephants die out
The Duke of Cambridge was speaking at the Time for Change event organised by the Tusk Trust, the wildlife charity of which he is patron. The Prince said that, “The number of savannah elephants had crashed to just 350,000. And at the current pace of illegal poaching the African elephant will be gone from the wild in 25 years.” The Prince called for action ahead of a CITES conference, when the world’s attention will be focused on tackling the burgeoning illegal trade in wildlife.
Stop Illegal Ivory Trade
On average an elephant is killed every 15 minutes for its ivory. Africa lost as many as 111,000 elephants over the last decade as a surge in poaching in the east of the continent caused the population’s biggest declines in the past 25 years, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The species population has fallen by almost a third since 2006 – about the time when Ben Whittenbury first conceived the idea of a Haymakers Survey.
In The Earth Emperor’s Eye, Malachi the messenger warns us that the number 111 has significance. It’s considered a sign of foreboding! The number 111 is sometimes called Nelson, after Admiral Nelson and, curiously, the novel reveals a fresh take on Nelson’s infamous clash with a polar bear on the Arctic ice, portrayed in Nelson and the Bear!
Nelson and the bear
The novel also includes a desperate cry for help to end perpetual suffering from one of the characters, a murder victim, “Will. I. Am! Will. I. Am! William!” Could this, in reality, have been a plea on behalf of the elephant kingdom?