Prince William and Prince Charles Team Up Against Illegal Wildlife Trade



02/09/2014 at 01:30 PM EST




Prince William and Prince Charles Team Up Against Illegal Wildlife Trade


Prince Charles and Prince William


Courtesy of The British Monarchy



Prince William and his father Prince Charles are part of the fight against illegal wildlife trade.

In a video, they speak in Arabic, Vietnamese, Spanish, Swahili and Mandarin, to urge the world to unite for wildlife. William, 31, speaks in Vietnamese and Swahili while Charles, 65, takes the others.


But it came as William and brother Prince Harry headed to Spain for a weekend of shooting. It is thought they will be hunting boar on an estate that they regularly visit with friends.


A spokesman would not comment on the private trip, but told PEOPLE in a statement, "The Duke of Cambridge has for many ears been a passionate advocate for endangered wildlife and has campaigned tirelessly to help stop the illegal poaching of rhino horn and elephant tusk. His track record in this area speaks for itself."


Soon after leaving active service in the RAF last September, William launched a fresh bid to save rhinos and elephants from organized crime gangs hunting them for their ivory.


And new father William says in the video released Sunday, "This year I've become even more devoted to protecting the resources of the earth for not only my own son but for other children of his generation to enjoy, I want them to be able to experience the same Africa that I did as a child."


Charles explains, "We have come together, as father and son, to lend our voices to the growing global effort to combat the illegal wildlife trade – a trade that has reached such unprecedented levels of killing and related violence that it now poses a grave threat not only to the survival of some of the world's most treasured species, but also to economic and political stability in many areas around the world."


They highlight the enormous scale of the issue which saw 30,000 elephants killed last year, and 62 percent of African forest elephants have now been lost. A Rhino is killed every 11 hours, while tigers are down to 3,200 in the wild, Prince Charles says in the film.


Both princes will be attending an international conference hosted in London by the British Prime Minister this week.


Full version: unite for wildlife video from Royal Communications on Vimeo.






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