Summaries

Synopsis

The documentary concerns the poaching of elephants in Africa, related to the ivory trade in China and Hong Kong, and the repercussions of elephant poaching if it is allowed to continue. Directors Keif Davidson and Richard Ladkani spent 16 months undercover along with their crew and several subjects investigating the killing of elephants for their tusks and the smuggling of ivory to China, where it is seen as a status symbol. Over the last 5 years 150,000 elephants have been killed for their ivory.

Large parts of Africa don't have any elephant populations anymore. The last bastions are west and southern Africa.While illegal, there is a rampant black market where corrupt business practices and dealings occur. The film takes its viewers from Tanzania, Kenya, and Zambia to China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam, briefly stopping in London.

The film opens in Tanzania, Africa, where Elisifa Ngowi, the head of intelligence for the Task Force, along with his officers, are conducting a nighttime sting operation in an attempt to arrest Shetani, one of the most notorious poachers in the region. Shetani is responsible for the deaths of 10,000 elephants alone. He hires men to kill elephants and transports their tusks. One of his collections can weigh up to 3000 Kgs of ivory. Poachers get paid $7/kilo, which sells in China for $3000/kilo. elephant numbers in Africa went from 100,000 to 50,000 within 5 years.

Poachers use the ivory money to fund jihad wars. Ngowi continually acts on intelligence and arrests locals with ivory or with firearms that will be used to kill elephants.Ngowi finds evidence that Shetani is operating in Zambia and shares his intelligence with Zambian wildlife conservation authorities. Georgia heads the team, and her aerial surveys of the Zambezi regions show proof of elephant poaching.

She tracks a seller in Lusaka who is selling ivory for $25/kilo. The sellers get 5 years in prison with rigorous labor. Shetani is eventually arrested from his house in Dar-e-salaam. Ngowi has his man, whom he had been chasing for 3 years.

While Ngowi is tracking Shetani and the poachers, Craig Millar, head of security at the Big Life Foundation in Kenya, is trying to stop poaching from happening in the first place. Millar's team spend their days and nights protecting elephants on the vast savanna, scaring off poachers and preventing local residents from attacking elephants that have destroyed their food crops. even females and kids are at risk for the couple of kilos of ivory they carry. He is tracking a bull named One Ton, who is carrying 80 Kgs of ivory in his tusks. The elephants know their tusks are valuable and hide them from humans. Elephants can't protect themselves from poachers.

Craig finds a whole family of elephants shot down by poachers. Traders want extinction of elephants. The less the elephants, more the price. More the price, more they get poached. The world's largest elephant Satao, with tusks that reach the ground is confirmed shot dead.Electric fences are the only solution to stop elephants from going to human settlements and hence getting shot dead. Millar works with Ian Craig who has been working on elephant conservation in Africa for decades. He has a direct like to the US and UK Govts and the Royal family. He can arrange the funding to get the fences going.

Craig and Ian are tracking a herd that's moving towards Somalia from Kenya. Somalia has more poaching as there is very little Govt. They find a mother, who has been shot and her head severed. Ian attends a fundraiser in London with Prince William to raise money for elephant conservation in Africa.

In China, Andrea Crosta, who is head of investigation for Wildleaks (he devoted his life to elephants after he saw a calf hacked to death for its tiny ivory tusks), a whistle-blowing site for "wildlife crime", and Hongxiang Huang, an investigative journalist, go undercover to gather evidence of illegal importing and selling of ivory. Huang works with Ofir Drori, Israeli ex-military officer and undercover investigator.China has become the world's biggest market for ivory. a 15 Kgs painted or carved tusk goes for $180K and the prices are rising steadily every year.

The Chinese government releases 5 tons of ivory per year to licensed dealers, making it difficult to discern between legal and illegal ivory. You have a legal market for something that is illegal all over the world. Hundreds of tons of ivory get into China every year. Crosta and Huang, along with their hidden cameras, expose many dealers bragging about having much more ivory than their licenses allow and reveals the many loopholes in ivory regulations (how dealers launder illegal ivory and make it legal) which have helped create an intense demand.Huang has to work with local authorities and risk his life every time he exposes a dealer. The dealers don't suspect Huang and they never think that a Chinese could be working to protect the animals. One Chinese dealer claims to have 4 tons of ivory in storage, which is roughly worth $9.2 MM. If they (Huang or Crosta) share info with the wrong person, they might end up dead.

Kenya starts a ivory and rhino horn database. Every year millions of dollars of ivory gets stolen from Govt warehouses and gets sold on the black market. The idea is to destroy the ivory and stop the leaking. Kill the demand and the poaching will stop.The Kenyan president sets fire to all the seized ivory and rhino horns. Its 105 tons, it's a start. 600 tons still remain in Govt stockpiles in Africa.

Huang and Crosta investigate a village called Nhi Khe in Vietnam, which is a vital cog in the ivory business. Ivory and horns are sold openly on the streets and the police don't interfere in the business. Huang finds some professional Chinese buyers and befriends them. They meet suppliers who promise to deliver ivory to any address in Hong Kong at $1500 USD/kilo.

Crosta also meets a whistle blower in China who shares evidence of Ivory buyers who run 400 workshops in Beijing to carve the ivory. She claims that high ranking Govt officials are part of running the company. The whistle blower arranges a clandestine meeting directly with the govt official. Crosta wants to present the proof to Chinese authorities. If President of China outlaws ivory trade, elephants can be saved.

The whistle blower goes to the meeting and films grizzly bear skins, blankets made of wolf leg skins (one blanket requires 100 wolves), a picture made from wings of Brazilian butterflies. Unfortunately, they found the camera and they had to run away. Crosta manages to get out, but the whistle blower is not allowed to leave. Eventually she manages to talk her way out of the situation. Crosta gets her out of China, before she is killed.

Crosta presents his evidence to HK MP Elizabeth Quat, who conducts an international press conference to show the evidence and call for a complete ban on ivory trade in HK. Eventually Chinese President Xi announces a complete ban on ivory trade in China.The documentary reports that if governments do not take action now or in the near future, elephants are facing extinction within the next 15 years.