Battle for the Elephants Page #2

bicycles to villages.

From there they're

put into trucks,

and they come up one of the

main roads to the capital city,

where traders are consolidating

thousands of kilograms of

poached ivory.

AH:
The economies in East

Africa are starting to boom,

and a lot of the trade has

to go through Mombasa port.

Agricultural produce, timber,

and, hidden amongst those items,

smugglers can hide their ivory.

THE IVORY ROAD TO MARKET HERE

BECOMES A SHIPPING CHANNEL,

AS IVORY TRAVELS CONCEALED

IN CARGO CONTAINERS ACROSS

5, 000 MILES OF INDIAN OCEAN.

IN THE CONTAINER

PORT OF HONG KONG,

BRYAN CHRISTY PICKS

UP THE IVORY ROAD.

HERE 60,000 CONTAINERS

ARRIVE EACH DAY.

CUSTOMS AGENTS INSPEC FEWER THAN 1% .

IT'S A SMUGGLER'S DREAM.

Bryan:
You can almost feel the

scale of elephant poaching here

as you look out on these

containers, massive containers.

Somewhere in here there's

a container with ivory,

you can almost feel it,

you can almost grab a tusk!

OFFICIALS SOMETIMES DO

GRAB A TUSK:

TONS OF THEM.

ONE RECENT BUST NETTED 8

THOUSAND POUNDS OF IVORY .

THAT WOULD REPRESENT ROUGHLY 600

ELEPHANTS --LESS THAN 3% OF THE

25,000 ELEPHANTS THAT CITES

ESTIMATED WERE KILLED LAST YEAR.

BRYAN SUSPECTS THAT MUCH ILLEGAL

IVORY ENTERING CHINA FINDS ITS

WAY TO STORES.

TO FIND OUT HOW IT'S SOLD,

HE POSES AS A TV PRESENTER

EXPLORING CHINESE LUXURY GOODS.

BC:
So we're on the 4th floor

of the Beijing arts and crafts

building.

This is a building dedicated

to traditional arts,

and now we're on the,

in the ivory shop.

Bryan talks with shop girls.

Hi, I'm Brian.

[I'm Amy] Amy, nice to meet you.

Bryan:
My goal when I go into a

store is to see that world from

their perspective.

It's very important to find

inside myself something that

appreciates their world.

Bryan:
And who is this one?

Amy:
In China it's

"God of Money".

Bryan:
God of Money,

he looks very happy.

Amy:
He's rich.

Bryan:
hahahaha Bryan:

People for the first time in

generations are able

to afford ivory.

They're looking back into their

past for symbols that they

associate with their

ancestors, with core values,

and they're expressing

their core values in ivory.

Lady:
This one is good luck,

and this one is prosperity.

And that one is long life.

[Luck?]

Bryan:
It's extraordinary

craftsmanship.

If you did not know

anything about the elephant,

you'd be moved.

BC:
One piece?

Saleswoman:
One piece, yes.

BC:
Every layer?

Saleswoman:
36 layer,

BC:
36 layer?

You need the tusks, the

biggest one, very thick.

BC:
Oh, so this would

have been a massive tusk?

Saleswoman:
Yes.

BC:
As I'm walking through

these shops, you're seeing

20, 000 dollars, 50,000 dollars,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes