14 DAY TRIAL // One might be tempted to think that football star David Beckham and Prince William cannot possibly have anything in common. As it turns out, they do: their passion for wildlife and their disapproval of the illegal wildlife trade.
According to The Guardian, David Beckham and Prince William are both so committed to protecting our planet's remaining biodiversity that they have recently entered a partnership whose end goal is to end the ivory and rhino horn trade.
As part of this collaboration, the football star and the Duke of Cambridge have set the basis for a new anti-wildlife crime campaign. The project was officially launched this past Monday, and its slogan is #WhoseSideAreYouOn.
Talking to the press, David Beckham and Prince William have explained that this latest anti-wildlife crime initiative organized under the Duke of Cambridge's bigger United for Wildlife Campaign hopes to harness the power of sport to fight the ivory and rhino horn trade.
Thus, the project benefits from the support of several celebs in the world of sport, such as Andy Murray, basketball superstar Yao Ming, Rahul Dravid, rugby world cup winner Francois Pienaar, and Lewis Hamilton.
Unlike previous campaign's intended to curb poaching, maybe even put an end to it, by providing better protection for animals in the wild, David Beckham's and Prince William's #WhoseSideAreYouOne aims to shame people into no longer buying ivory and rhino horn.
The rationale is as follows: poachers only kill elephants and rhinos, and then strip them of their tusks and horns because some people are willing to pay a lot of money to get their hands on such animal body parts. The footballer and the Duke believe that curbing demand is key to ending illegal hunting.
“Our children should not live in a world without elephants, tigers, lions and rhinos. Enough is enough. It is time to choose between critically endangered species and the criminals who kill them for money,” Prince William has said in a statement.
“Unless the demand stops, the killing will continue. You have to make it unfashionable and who should you get to make it unfashionable? The fashion icons of the world,” adds M. Sanjayan with Conservation International.
It is estimated that, for the time being, the illegal trade in live animals and animal body parts is worth about $5-20 billion (some €3.67-14.68 billion) per year. What's more, conservationists say that, over the past 10 years, over 1,000 rangers have been murdered while trying to protect endangered species.