William pledges continued support for wildlife rangers in video message

The Prince of Wales has vowed to carry on raising awareness about the threats faced by rangers working to safeguard wildlife across the globe.

William highlighted the “intimidation, violence and even death” faced by conservationists based in important habitats in a video message marking World Ranger Day.

The death toll among rangers has been high during the period from June 2023 to May 2024, with 140 losing their lives to a range of factors from animal attacks and occupational accidents to targeting by poachers.

William said in his video message: “Every day, rangers are risking their lives to stay one step ahead of poachers.

“They risk intimidation, violence and even death to protect some of our planet’s most precious wildlife from being poached to extinction.

“I’ll continue to do all I can to raise awareness of their plight and shine a light on their important work.”

The future king is royal patron of the Africa-based wildlife charity Tusk Trust and in 2022 he paid tribute to “committed and brave” ranger Anton Mzimba who was shot and killed outside his home that year.

Mr Mzimba was head of ranger services at Timbavati private game reserve in north-east South Africa, near Kruger National Park.

World Ranger Day, an International Ranger Federation (IRF) initiative, commemorates rangers killed or injured in the line of duty and celebrates their work protecting habitats.

Chris Galliers, the IRF’s president, said in a message marking the annual event: “Unfortunately this year we also remember the 140 rangers that passed away in the line of duty.

“It’s 140 rangers too many, and we at the IRF are looking to do everything that we can to reduce the number of rangers that die in the line of duty.

“This year, we saw 27% of the rangers dying as a result of homicide.

“This is in itself a very frightening statistic, and one which we are obviously very concerned about, but also call on the international community to look to address.”