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March 5, 2015

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Prince William closes China visit with appeal for end to ivory trade

BRITAIN’S Prince William highlighted his interest in wildlife conservation on the final stop of his China tour yesterday, feeding baskets of carrots to an elephant in the country’s southwest.

The second in line to the British throne visited an elephant sanctuary, where he met Ran Ran, a 13-year-old female elephant who was discovered in 2005 with a leg wound caused by an iron trap.

Handed carrots by the animal’s keeper, William passed them to Ran Ran, who reached for more with her trunk even while her mouth was crammed full.

The visit to Yunnan Province, a tropical region bordering Myanmar and Laos that has been the focus of government efforts to stop poaching and reduce conflicts between people and elephants who eat their crops, was organized for William to learn how Asian elephants are surviving in the wild in China.

There are about 250 wild Asian elephants in China, all in Yunnan, according to the province’s forestry administration.

The prince, who is patron and president of British charities that campaign against the illegal trade in ivory, also met villagers in Xishuangbanna Prefecture to hear how they are adapting to living in close proximity to wild elephants.

William, who regularly speaks out against wildlife trafficking, called for an end to the ivory trade.

“A powerful blow we can strike against traffickers is to reduce the demand for their products. Demand provides traffickers with their incentive. It fuels their greed and generates their vast profits,” William said in a speech released by Britain’s royal household.

“Ultimately, ending demand for ivory is down to citizens across the world,” he said, adding that he welcomes “the steps that China has already taken” to counter the trade.

The extinction of animals such as elephants, rhinos and pangolins would be an “immeasurable loss” to humanity, he said.

Last week, China banned ivory imports for a year in the hope it would help reduce the demand for African tusks and protect wild elephants.

China crushed 6.8 tons of confiscated ivory early last year in its first such public destruction of its stockpile. But the country still ranks as the world’s biggest end-market for poached ivory, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Beijing in 1981 signed a pact banning the trade in ivory, but it got an exemption in 2008 to buy 62 tons of ivory from several African nations. It releases a portion of that stockpile each year to government-licensed ivory carving factories.

More than 20,000 African elephants were killed for ivory in 2013, said the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, leaving a population of about 500,000.

William told President Xi Jinping on Monday he hopes China can become a world leader in the field of wildlife conservation, Xinhua news agency reported.

During their meeting, Xi explained China’s policies and work protecting elephants and other wild animals and told the prince that he hopes to strengthen international cooperation in the field.

William left Yunnan to fly back to Britain last night.




 

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