President Masisi said Prince William diplomatically indicated there might be a conservation case for hunting

The Duke of Cambridge supports the return of elephant trophy hunting in Botswana because it could help conserve threatened species, according to the country’s leader.

President Masisi met privately with the duke this week in London at a conference on illegal wildlife trade. They discussed the problem of Botswana having too many elephants and the damage they caused to livelihoods.

Campaigners condemned the president’s plans to lift the ban on trophy hunting last night, saying killing wildlife for sport could not be justified on conservation grounds.

In his speech opening the conference, the duke spoke of his fear that elephants, tigers and rhinos could be extinct in the wild by the time his children were in their 20s.

In an interview with The Times,