London (CNN) -- The illegal wildlife trade takes the lives of 100 elephants a day, and rhino poaching increased by 5,000% between 2007 and 2012. The six remaining subspecies of tiger are endangered, two of them critically. Three other tiger subspecies are already extinct. Statistics like these are the reason it's time to treat the effort to stop the illegal wildlife trade "like a battle, because it is precisely that," says Britain's Prince Charles. He and his son, Prince William, are among the high-profile global guests due to take part in the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade on Thursday, hosted by the UK government.
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Prince Charles and Prince William speak out against illegal wildlife trade
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The royal father and son are taking part in an international summit in London
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William: "We have to be the generation that stopped the illegal wildlife trade"
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Poachers are killing growing numbers of elephants and rhinos for the trade
"Prince @placeholder has gone shooting -- a day before launching a campaign to stop wildlife being killed," the popular tabloid said.