Prince William fears the Africa elephant will be distinct within the next two decades.
The 34-year-old royal – who has been a patron of the charity Tusk since 2005, which funds conservation projects in Africa – gave a speech on Thursday (22.09.16) in which he expressed his concern that since 1982, when the Duke of Cambridge was born, there were one million of the large animals on earth, but in 2015 there are only 350,000 left.
Speaking at the Time For Change event at London landmark The Shard, William – who has three-year-old Prince George and 16-month-old Princess Charlotte with his wife Duchess Catherine, 34 – said: "By the time my daughter Charlotte was born last year, the numbers of Savannah elephants had crashed to just 350,000.
"At the current pace of illegal poaching, when Charlotte turns 25 the African elephant will be gone from the wild.
"We have the chance to say that rhino horn does not cure anything and does not need a legal market."
William attended a Tusk event last year and urged for protection of the "natural world"
At the time, he said: "People often ask me why I am so passionate about this cause. There are many reasons, but one of the most obvious is because of the human impact.
"As the world’s population becomes more and more urbanised, an increasing number of people will grow up with little or no connection to the natural world. This will become a major challenge for conservationists. If people cannot see it, they will never learn to value it, or worse still will take little interest in looking after it."
"The planet and our natural resources is not something we can afford to squander."
Prince William fears for African elephants
