Prince Harry Joins South African War Against Animal Poachers

With Africa’s war against poaching reaching an all-time high, Prince Harry has joined the ranks to contribute what he can to the fight.

The 30-year-old royal has always shown an interest in things beyond the whole ‘being royal in England’ thing, and with his military training, he has offered his services to South Africa’s Operation Corona – an operation that has already seen more than 300 poachers killed.

“Harry will be with me for quite some time. We’ll try to keep him safe,” retired Major-General Johan Jooste told the Daily Mail. Jooste is part of the army unit deployed in the Kruger National Park.

Harry has been going on night patrols with an army unit in the reserve, where last week, rangers confronted three poachers at Crocodile River which ended in a shootout.

The night patrols use tracker dogs in order to hunt poachers, and let off green smoke bombs to alert helicopter pilots of a safe landing zone who then deploy attack teams. It’s a very efficient, and effective operation.

Operation Corona has already seen 300 poachers killed.

In South Africa, most arrests of poachers are unsuccessful because the poachers usually get diplomatic immunities and are back doing it the next day. The poachers also tend to open fire and engage in armed combat with rangers and other protection services.

The killing of a fellow human is always tragic, but it is the only outcome given what’s at stake for either side.