Prince Harry loses battle with Mail on Sunday over wildlife article

A complaint by Harry over claims about photos of a drugged elephant is rejected.

Harry’s Instagram post of a conservation worker with an elephant cropped out the elephant’s rear legs. Picture: Instagram.

Prince Harry has lost a complaint against the British newspaper the Mail on Sunday about a story criticising wildlife photographs he posted on Instagram.

The prince alleged the newspaper, which the Duchess of Sussex is suing separately over an alleged breach of privacy, made inaccurate claims about pictures he posted online last April of African wildlife. One photograph, of a worker with an elephant in Malawi had the headline: “Drugged and tethered … what Harry didn’t tell you about those awe-inspiring wildlife photos.”

The Mail on Sunday reported that the picture was cropped in such a way that readers could not see the animal was tethered with a rope. The paper also said the elephant had been drugged with a tranquilliser, as had a rhino and lion that features in other pictures.

Harry complained that the paper had made it seem he had deliberately cropped out the rope, and that he had posted the full picture in 2016.

The uncropped picture of a worker with the tethered elephant. The picture Harry published didn’t show the elephant’s hind legs. Picture: Instagram.

But the independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) watchdog rejected the complaint, ruling that the article was not “significantly misleading” or inaccurate.

The article reported: “Anyone glancing at (the pictures) quickly could be left with the impression that capturing images of these mighty creatures at such close quarters would have required a thrilling — possibly life-endangering — pursuit across the bush.”

Instead, it said, all three had been stunned by a tranquilliser. The elephant had also been tethered with a rope around its hind legs.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with an elephant on their trip to Botswana in 2017. Picture: Instagram.

Harry claimed the article gave the impression he had “intentionally misled the public to give the impression he was a superior wildlife photographer who had captured the images in dangerous circumstances”.

He said the pictures were meant to raise awareness; and the caption made clear the animals were being relocated as part of conservation efforts and explained how the organisation tranquillised and tethered the animals.

IPSO said, however: “The Committee did not consider that it was significantly misleading to report that the photographs posted on the complainant’s Instagram account did not quite tell the full story and that the complainant had not explained the circumstances in which the photographs had been taken.”

The prince, 35, has launched multiple complaints against newspapers recently, ramping up hostilities with the media that he blames for the death of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, and for unfair reporting on his wife Meghan.

Earlier this month the couple stunned the country when they announced they were stepping back from frontline royal duties to spend more time living in North America.

AFP