Outrage as Botswana bids to lift hunt ban

THREATS to lift the ban on killing elephants in Botswana – Prince Harry’s ‘second home’ – have outraged conservationists and celebrities.

The southern African country is considering scrapping protection for about 230,000 elephants because they damage crops.

Conservationists Bill Oddie and Chris Packham have signed an open letter to Botswana’s government, urging it to keep the ban in place. Other signatories include Stephen Fry, Ricky Gervais, Joanna Lumley and Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

Since the ban was introduced four years ago, Botswana has become a safe haven for elephants from neighbouring, war-torn Angola and Namibia,

‘We might as well say goodbye to them now’

where they were used as target practice by soldiers and their tusks sold.

Comedian Mr Gervais said: ‘If trophy-hunting elephants in Botswana is made legal again, we might as well say goodbye to them now. And all because some rich psychopath enjoys murdering a magnificent animal.’

In the 1970s, there were more than a million elephants across the continent, but a survey of 18 African countries in 2014 found there were just over 350,000.

Prince Harry is patron of Rhino Conservation Botswana. He first visited the country with Prince Charles when he was 13, two months after his mother, Princess Diana, died.

It is also where the prince cemented his relationship with Meghan Markle, whisking her away for romantic trips before their engagement.