Jack Trelawny School Author Blog: Prince William speaks out against rhino poaching

Jack Trelawny's Story House - Prince William speaks out against rhino poaching

Prince William with a black rhino

The Emperor's Rhinoceros is the first book in my new Thirteen Things series. At the beginning of this story, which happens 500 years ago in India and is inspired by the true story of a real object, there is a rhino hunt. The hunting of rhinos for their horns has been going on for a very long time in both India and Africa. Today, some people and organisations are trying to stop the hunting before the rhinos become extinct.

Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, paid a visit a few day ago to Port Lympne Animal Park to lend his support for an historic airlift of three rare Black Rhinos - Zawardi, Monduli, and Grumeti - which took place over the weekend from Kent to Mkomazi National Park in northern Tanzania.

The three rhinos are called Zawardi, Monduli, and Grumeti

The duke is Royal Patron of Tusk Trust, one of the groups involved in the relocation.

He gave a rare interview to speak out about the scale of poaching currently taking place across Africa - calling those who knowingly take part "extremely ignorant, selfish and utterly wrong".

The rhinos were flown from UK to Tanzania on a special DHL aeroplane

BBC Reporter, Kate Silverton, went to speak to the duke at the wildlife park as preparations were being made to relocate the three black rhinos to Tanzania.

The rhinos arrive in Tanzania

Prince William said that, along with elephants, rhino are the most heavily poached animals in the world, with "two rhino currently killed each day in South Africa alone'.

"If we don't do something about them it's going to be a tragic loss for everyone."

Click here to watch a video of Prince William's full interview with the BBC

Other links:

Tusk Trust

The Aspinall Foundation

WWF - World Wildlife Fund

IDEA 1: True stories like this can give you good practice at writing NEWS or REPORTING type stories. Find out all you can about Prince William helping to save the rhinoceros and then write your own NEWS REPORT.

IDEA 2: True stories like this can give you ideas for your own stories. Imagine it was your job to help protect the rhinoceros from the poachers and extinction. Write a story about it. Remember five important W words from the Story House: WHO is in the story? WHAT happens? WHERE does the story happen? WHEN do events in the story happen? WHY do things happen?

I will soon be visiting schools to explain how real objects have provided the ideas for my new series of stories, Thirteen Things, which is inspired by 13 of the 100 objects in the BBC's 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'. The 13 Objects for children can also be seen on a special tour if you visit the British Museum in London.