Southwater the elephant packed his trunk and met the Foreign Secretary

‘Southwater’ the Elephant was taken to London as part of Care for the Wild’s peaceful demonstration outside the Wildlife Crime Summit held on Thursday – a meeting of world leaders and delegates from around the world, and hosted by Prince Charles and Prince William.

Southwater first met TV naturalist Bill Oddie, but was then taken into the Summit itself and was presented to Foreign Secretary William Hague in front of all the delegates. The lucky elephant was then taken back to the Foreign Office where he has been put on display.

Philip Mansbridge, CEO of Care for the Wild, said the charity wanted to help produce a card which summed up why charities and governments should do everything they can to protect wildlife like elephants, lions, tigers and rhinos.

“As adults, we can sit and watch the news as we hear about elephants and rhinos being poached, about lions and tigers being killed so their body parts can be used in fake medicines. We can choose to act, or we can just sit and watch. But as children, the next generation don’t have a chance to act – they must rely on us to save these animals, otherwise there will be none left by the time these children grow up.

“It was fantastic to work with Southwater Infant Academy and to get the children to involved. We know that they care about wildlife, so this was there way of asking William Hague and the world leaders – please, don’t let us down.”

Sue Winn, Headteacher of Southwater Infant Academy, said: “We were delighted to play our part in starting the journey of this very important elephant. We hope World Leaders and Governments will take action to ensure endangered species are protected for future generations of children to learn about our wonderful world and everything in it.”

The children who presented the card and volunteered are elephant lovers and Care for the Wild supporters Imani Hinstridge, 11 and Tuni Hinstridge, 10, from East Anglia.

Care for the Wild is a wildlife charity based in Horsham, and this year is celebrating its 30th birthday. To find out more about their Last Chance for Elephants Campaign, go to www.careforthewild.com/lastchance.

Report and pictures contributed by Care for the Wild.