Prince William Under Fire for Saying Trophy Hunting Is Sometimes ‘Justifiable’

Prince William upset conservationists by saying in an interview that trophy hunting of animals like lions could sometimes be “justifiable” as a means of raising money to protect threatened species.

“When [an animal] is infertile,” he said, “he’s at the end of his life, if somebody out there wants to pay that money—and it wouldn’t be me—but if somebody did, then as long as that money goes back into protection of the species then it is a justifiable means of conserving species that are under serious threat.”

Groups like Lion Aid were frustrated by the comment, saying in a statement, “With likely less than 15,000 wild lions left in Africa, there is no place for commercial hunting of lions,” the Guardian reports.

This is not the first time the Duke of Cambridge has come under fire in relation to wildlife conservation; in 2014, a day before launching a conservation appeal against illegal hunting, he went on a deer and wild boar hunt in Spain; while his hunt was not illegal, critics said it sent a mixed message.

[The Guardian]