Prince Harry has been outspoken about his involvement in the anti-poaching movement, but on a recent trip to Africa, the 31-year-old was overcome with emotions, regarding the senseless killing of animals.
The royal, who spent three months over summer working as a wildlife conservation volunteer, released a series of personal photographs and videos to bring to light, the very real threat facing elephants and rhinos in South Africa.
Personally captioning each photograph, Harry was attempting to comment on his own heartbreaking experiences during his visit.
On one of the trips through Kruger National Park, Harry came across the carcass of a female white rhino and her calf.
“This belongs to South Africa and it’s been stolen by other people,” Harry said of the rhinos,
“And the body’s left here, wasted.”
“We find this often,” Major-General Johan Jooste told media present in a recorded video. “The mother was probably killed first. The baby will always come back to the mother so when it came close it would have been killed also.
“When it’s a small calf, they often hack it to death with pangas [machetes]Â to avoid making a noise by shooting but this calf was shot too.”
In a speech given at the park, Harry expressed his frustration with the ongoing practice of illegal poaching and thanked the rangers who spend their lives attempting to protect the wildlife.
“There is no pretending that any of this will be easy,” the prince said.
“It won’t be. But when we win this battle and reverse the rise in poaching, the victory will belong first and foremost to those on the frontiers.”
“I know how lucky I am to have these experiences, but hearing stories from people on the ground about how bad the situation really is upset and frustrated me,” he captioned the photo.
“How can it be that 30,000 elephants were slaughtered last year alone?”
Learn more at www.savetherhino.org.
