Royals

Prince William’s embarrassing blunder at Elephant Refuge in China

Prince William has been promoting wildlife conservation on his tour of China and Japan but in an embarrassing blunder for the palace, it seems he may have inadvertently visited elephants who are made to perform for tourists.

Prince William visited Wild Elephant Valley at Xishuangbanna, in the Yunnan province of China at the end of his week-long royal tour of Japan and China.

The approximate 250 elephants living at the nature reserve are promoted as the only “wild” Asian elephants in China. Since the Prince’s visit though, it has been revealed that many of the elephants remain in shackles.

Just as the Prince was being photographed with one elephant for the waiting media, just down the road other elephants were being made to perform for tourists by balancing on tiny stools and kicking a soccer ball as tourists posed with them.

It seems the Prince was oblivious to what was going on in other parts of the park and he did not respond to reporters asking him if he was aware of the elephant entertainment going on nearby.

Left: Prince William gives a talk on the improtance of wildlife conservation. Right: posing with an elephant at Wild Elephant Valley 

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Ironically, William, who is the patron of the Tusk foundation, was in the region to give a talk on the importance of wildlife conservation.

The Duke said: “It is appalling that elephants and many others may be extinct in the wild in our lifetimes, and we seem to be hurtling towards the tragic outcome.

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

Unfortunately it seems the Prince’s message may have been undermined by his choice of location to deliver it.

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