Prince William to visit Vietnam for wildlife conservation

Prince William, the second heir to the British throne, will visit Hanoi on November 17 and 18 to attend the third International Wildlife Trade Conference, U.K. media outlets have reported.

The Duke of Cambridge is expected to meet local leaders as president of United for Wildlife, a coalition of major conservation groups.

According to media reports, he confirmed the trip while giving a speech at a recent event in London for African wildlife protection organization Tusk Trust. He is the trust’s patron and main supporter.

Prince William is actively working to protect wildlife around the world. Photo by Reuters/Eddie Keogh

"When I was born, there were one million elephants roaming Africa. By the time my daughter Charlotte was born last year, the numbers of savannah elephants had crashed to just 350,000," William was quoted as saying. "And at the current pace of illegal poaching, when Charlotte turns 25 the African elephant will be gone from the wild."

William has regularly spoken out against the illegal hunting of lions, elephants and rhinos. But his stance on trophy hunting has been at the center of controversy several times.

In 2014 the prince was criticized by international media outlets for taking part in a deer and wild boar hunt. In March this year, he was under fire again after defending regulated big game hunting.