Prince William was saddened by the death of his friend’s rhino which was slaughtered by poachers just to get it horn which horns are on high demand especially in Asian countries. This white rhinoceros called Max was shot 17 times and later had it horn chopped off in Kenya. In spite of the fact that the rangers had most of its horn as a way of protecting it from these illegal hunters, it was still killed for just a small piece of its horn that was still remaining on its head.
At a young age, Max was an element in the documentary called the Last Chance To See ad had been looked after by Ian Craig who is the father of Prince William’s former girlfriend Jecca. According to the information that was got, Mr. Craig is the owner of the Lewa wildlife reserve in Kenya although at the time the rhino had been transferred to the Ol Pejeta sanctuary because he had aged and could not look after it very well and it was at Ol Pejeta sanctuary that it was killed from. In 2001 prince Williams spent six weeks volunteering at Mr. Craig’s conservation project and while there he often met Max on his trips to Africa.
After seeing and appreciating the work done by Mr. Craig with rhinos, Prince William then became a patron of the Tusk Trust and organization responsible for protecting animals. at the same time, A St James‘s Palace spokesman also mentioned that the Prince was horrified to learn about the death of Max which is why he still encourages all the responsible bodies to protect and conserve rhinos and elephants and has also asked Tusk Trust to inform him of the latest news from Africa.
In Asia, a kilo of rhino horns cost £40, 00 which is why poachers constantly slaughter rhinos to sell the horns where they believe are a source of medicine especially for cancer. However Charlie Mayhew, a co-founder of the Tusk Trust, mentioned that the death of Max is an example of what is happening else where in many African countries due to a high demands for the horns more in China and Vietnam.
The Prince is very much interested in seeing the number of rhinos and elephants increasing and having illegal hunting stamped out and this is something he just loves doing and help see up to it that the progression of illegal trade is stopped. Mr. Mayhew also added that this vice of rhino-poaching is at the moment pan-African and said that Zimbabwe lost six rhinos in just one year and that was something he got know while at one of the reserve in Zimbabwe. Just last year in South Africa, there was a rhino being killed in every 20 hrs on average by poachers and this year, South Africa has so far lost 70 and more rhinos to poachers. This therefore demands that the conservations come up with tough measures to curb down the vice in Africa.
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