Battle for the Elephants

1

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THE

AFRICAN ELEPHAN NUMBERED IN THE MILLIONS.

SEASONS WERE MEASURED BY

THEIR COMINGS AND GOINGS.

AND THEY HAD NO ENEMY.

BUT THEY POSSESSED ONE

FATAL FLAW:

THEIR IVORY TUSKS-REPRESENTING

PERFECTION, PURITY...

AND, IN TIME, MONEY.

AND SO THE ELEPHANT BECAME

VICTIM OF ITS OWN MAGNIFICENCE.

TODAY ITS NUMBERS

HAVE PLUMMETED,

AND ITS VERY:

SURVIVAL IS IN DOUBT.

David (anti poaching):

That was Venus,

she was a lovely

elephant; she was poached.

WHY DID OUR LOVE OF

IVORY TURN SO LETHAL?

David (game scout): Tusks

were in there and there;

there's nothing left.

Aidan:
We're facing a situation

where elephant could become

extinct in the wild.

NOW TWO INVESTIGATORS GO

UNDERCOVER AND INSIDE THE

ILLEGAL IVORY TRADE AND REVEAL

IT FROM BOTH SIDES...

SUPPLY IN AFRICA...

Aidan:
So my friend,

could you get 1,000 kilos?

Seller:
Yes!

AND DEMAND IN ASIA.

Woman:
You see the tusk

moving, it curves like this.

Bryan:
You can feel the tusk.

Woman:
Yes.

Bryan:
You're seeing $20,000,

$100,000, $200,000 and more.

TODAY A LINE HAS BEEN

DRAWN-BETWEEN THOSE WHO WISH FOR

POSSESSIONS AND THOSE WHO

WISH FOR SOMETHING, MUCH,

MUCH LARGER...

IN WHAT MAY BE THE FINAL

"BATTLE FOR THE ELEPHANTS."

DUSK.

AFRICA.

AN ELEPHANT HERD FOLLOWS

A TRAIL INTO THE FOREST,

TRAVELING PATHWAYS THEY HAVE

USED SINCE LONG BEFORE RECORDED

TIME.

BUT BECAUSE OF MAN'S DESIRE

FOR THEIR IVORY TUSKS,

THEIR JOURNEY IS NOW MORE

PERILOUS THAN EVER BEFORE.

A BAN ON THE IVORY TRADE PU IN PLACE DECADES AGO

SHOULD BE PROTECTING THEM....

BUT THE BAN IS NOT WORKING.

5,000 MILES AWAY , CHINA AWAKES.

WITH ITS 1.3 BILLION PEOPLE, I EMBRACES A NEW IDENTITY AS THE

FASTEST GROWING MAJOR

ECONOMY IN THE WORLD .

BUT THIS IS A NATION IN

CONFLICT WITH ITSELF.

A LONG TRADITION OF DEEPLY HELD

SPIRITUAL BELIEFS-BUDDHISM...

TAOISM...CONFUCIANISM

-MUST NOW RECKON WITH SOMETHING

NEW-

MATERIALISM.

CHINA'S BOOMING MIDDLE CLASS

FUELS CONSUMER DEMAND...AND HIGH

ON THEIR WISH LIST IS IVORY.

CHINA IS ONE OF THE FEW

COUNTRIES WHERE RECENTLY

ACQUIRED IVORY CAN BE SOLD

LEGALLY:

AND IT IS EXTREMELY POPULAR.

A NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC STUDY

REVEALED THAT 84% OF THE CHINESE

MIDDLE CLASS OWN ONE OR MORE

PIECES OF IVORY:

AND FURTHER:

SOME 83% SAY THEY INTEND TO

BUY IVORY IN THE FUTURE .

THAT'S A PROBLEM FOR

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIS BRYAN CHRISTY.

HE THINKS THE LEGAL

SUPPLY OF IVORY:

COMES NOWHERE:

NEAR MEETING DEMAND.

FOR 3 YEARS , HE HAS BEEN

RESEARCHING THE SCALE OF ASIAN

DEMAND FOR IVORY, ACUTELY AWARE

OF ITS CONSEQUENCES IN AFRICA.

BC:
by every measure, China

is the world's villain when it

comes to the

illegal ivory trade.

Its culture does not have a

history of valuing the elephant

as a live animal,

but rather as ivory.

And you look at the scale

of its current development,

its purchasing power

is skyrocketing,

at the same time the elephant's

population is plummeting.

Those two things are

not disconnected.

NOW BRYAN, A ONE-TIME POWER

LIFTER TURNED LAWYER TURNED

JOURNALIST , IS INVESTIGATING

THE POWERFUL FORCES DRIVING THE

TRADE IN CHINA.

BC:
When I was a boy, my

father said to me once,

you have a white knight complex.

It's a personal

weakness, really,

when I am exposed

to an unfair fight,

where there are organizations

involved, governments involved,

I have not

been able to turn away.

IN AFRICA, INVESTIGATIVE

JOURNALIST, AIDAN HARTLEY,

IS ALSO TAKING UP THE FIGHT.

HE HAS WITNESSED CHINA'S

PRESENCE IN AFRICA EXPLODE.

IN THE LAST TEN YEARS, TRADE

BETWEEN CHINA AND AFRICA JUMPED

FROM 6 BILLION TO OVER 100

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