Detectorist, 8, finds Bronze Age weapon within seconds

Ava Bray, eight, could not believe her luck after successfully begging grandad Tony to let her try out his detector.

Moments later on a beach it began bleeping and she unearthed a 3,000-year-old Bronze

Age axe. Now the schoolgirl, of Blackfield, Hants, is waiting to discover if she can keep the find from Southbourne, Dorest. Tony, 62,

BEACH BONANZA Ava with her axe find said of Ava’s find: “I could see it was made of bronze but didn’t realise how old it was.

“Some people with metal detectors can spend a lifetime searching and never find anything like that.”

THE restarting of trophy hunting in Botswana has given a green light to poachers which will end in a wildlife disaster, campaigners have warned.

Earlier this month, the country held its first auctions of permits to hunt elephants.

But now the number of poaching cases is soaring at an alarming rate, fuelled by insatiable demand for rhino horn in Asia, where it is coveted as a traditional medicine and as an aphrodisiac.

This horrific image, taken earlier this month, shows the butchered remains of two of these magnificent animals, taking the tally of killings since

April to almost 10% of Botswana’s total rhino population.

The government there is trying to keep a lid on the situation, but conservationists say action must be taken or this species could die out by 2021 in the southern African country.

Eduardo Gonclaves, from the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, says: “The restarting of trophy hunting in Botswana has given a green light to the poachers.

“Trophy hunting and poaching are two sides of the same coin.

“When it’s a black African killing an animal for bushmeat or to sell its body parts, it’s called poaching. When it’s a white foreigner who kills the same animal for fun and to keep its body parts, it’s trophy hunting. At the end of the day they are one and the same thing. An innocent animal is killed for greed, vanity or both. “It’s brutal, senseless and it is driving much of our wildlife to the brink of extinction. “Now the new government has disarmed the antipoaching patrols and is telling trophy hunters they’re welcome to come back and shoot endangered elephants. “As a result, we’re seeing absolute anarchy unfold. It’s hardly surprising this has happened. This was all so predictable. It’s an absolute disaster.” Thousands of rhinos that once roamed Africa and Asia have been culled by poaching and habitat loss. Very few are found outside national parks and reserves.

Between 2007-17, only six rhinos were killed in Botswana for their horns. In the past year alone, since the government announced its plan to bring back trophy hunting, 30 black and white rhinos have been killed, according to sources. But campaigners say the real figure is more likely to be at least 46. The total population of rhinos in Botswana is just 500. The Mirror is campaigning to stop the importation of animal trophies into the UK. The Government is now reviewing the evidence submitted to a DEFRA consultation, and a decision is due later this year.

BRUTAL Rhino deaths

Plastic sachets of and tomato ketchup could be outlawed mayonnaise plastic campaign to cut if a new

855 billion gets its way. Almost globally each year, sachets are used single portions of containing ketchup and everything from cream and laundry vinegar to face enough to detergent. That’s the entire surface cover of the Earth.

They are the same thing... an innocent animal is killed for greed