The Princes are going on a boar hunt
As the Princes set off on their hunting trip the best they hope to shoot is boar and stags. However, we have just seen an influx of people going away on not only safari holidays in Africa, but hunting safaris.
The Sun featured a story on Americans and Brits holidaying in different parts of Africa with the sole intentions to shoot dead giraffe and either have their photo taken with the deceased creature or have it taken to a taxidermist to have the head stuffed and taken home or to have the animal skinned.
It almost seems barbaric that people are paying around £10,000 to go on a holiday of a lifetime, and the main thing they want to do is kill one of the animals that make the land so beautiful in the first place.
It costs £1500 to hunt in game reserves in areas of Africa, and £1000 a day to have an expert to take you to the best places to spot the animals, and to demonstrate safe hunting skills. Apparently the holidays are frequented more by visitors from the US and Russia than the UK, but numbers are increasing.
Not only is the majestic giraffe being hunted by overseas killers, but elephants, rhinos and other big African animals too, all in the name of fun. The areas where wardens accompany hunters, and tourists have to pay a fee to hunt tend to have rising population numbers of giraffes at the moment because the game keepers are keeping track of numbers of animals being shot, and controlling the re-population of the area. But in other parts of Africa where there are no reserves of parks, the giraffe is becoming extinct. In Angola, Mali and Nigeria it is now illegal to hunt giraffe beause the animal has been overhunted, and are rarely seen.
To read the full Sun story and to see pictures of the hunters with their "trophies" go to: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4065464/Giraffe-gunned-down-for-family-holiday-fun.html.
Tagged in Prince Harry Prince William