Battle for the Elephants Page #2

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,

100,000, 200,000 and more.

These aren't trinkets, these

are priceless sculptures.

BC:
It's very unusual.

Saleswoman:
Yes.

BC:
How much is this?

Saleswoman:
6 million

Hong Kong dollars.

BC:
million Hong

Kong dollars...

so a little under a

million dollars U.S.

Saleswoman:
Yes.

BC:
And how old is

this do you think?

Saleswoman:
This

more than 20 years,

before they banned the ivory.

THE STORY LEADING UP TO THE

IVORY BAN BEGAN CENTURIES AGO.

IN 1800, AROUND 26 MILLION

ELEPHANTS ARE ESTIMATED TO HAVE

ROAMED AFRICA.

IN THE EARLY 1900'S, SHOOTING

AN ELEPHANT ON SAFARI WAS THE

HEIGHT OF MANLINESS

FOR WEALTHY WESTERNERS.

ALREADY THE MASS PRODUCTION OF

COMBS...BRUSH HANDLES...PIANO

KEYS...

AND POOL BALLS WAS

FUELING AN IVORY FRENZY.

BY 1913, THE UNITED STATES WAS

CONSUMING 200 TONS OF IVORY PER

YEAR , AND AFRICA'S ELEPHANTS

HAD DROPPED TO AN ESTIMATED

10 MILLION.

WORLD APPETITE FOR IVORY

CONTINUED TO DECIMATE ELEPHAN HERDS, UNTIL BY 1979, ONLY

1.3 MILLION WERE LEFT.

EVEN AS MANY WESTERNERS REALIZED

THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE TRADE,

ASIAN DEMAND PICKED UP.

BY 1989, ELEPHANTS

NUMBERED ONLY 600,000 .

FOR CONSERVATIONIS RICHARD LEAKEY,

JUST NAMED DIRECTOR OF THE

KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE,

TIME HAD ALMOST RUN

OUT FOR THE ELEPHANT.

RL:
I felt, we've got to do

something really dramatic-that

if you can bring world attention

to the problem facing elephant,

you can stop it.

LEAKEY CONVINCED KENYA'S

PRESIDENT TO PUBLICLY BURN THE

COUNTRY'S STOCKPILE

OF ACCUMULATED IVORY.

THE IMAGES RALLIED THE WORLD.

WITHIN A YEAR, TRADE IN

IVORY WAS BANNED WORLDWIDE,

AND DEMAND EVAPORATED .

WITH LITTLE KILLING

FOR OVER 10 YEARS,

THE ELEPHAN POPULATION REBOUNDED,

GROWING TO NEARLY 1 MILLION .

BUT DECISIONS IN 1999 AND

2008 CHANGED EVERYTHING.

UNDER PRESSURE FROM SOUTHERN

AFRICAN AND ASIAN COUNTRIES,

CITES ALLOWED 2 SPECIAL

SALES OF STOCKPILED IVORY ,

THUS SANCTIONING A

LEGAL TRADE IN TUSKS.

THE RESULT HAS:

BEEN DEVASTATION .

BC:
The problem is, that auction

has given cover to illegal

traders across China.

These sales are driving the

price to 20 times what it was

in Africa and now there is just

enough confusion

in stores like this one.

Is it legal or illegal?

ACCORDING TO THE INTERNATIONAL

FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE,

ONLY 16% OF THE IVORY

SOLD IN CHINA IS LEGAL .

IF SO, THAT MEANS 84% OF THE

ITEMS ON DISPLAY

COULD BE ILLEGAL.

BC:
As I'm walking around a shop

with someone who knows I'm a

journalist, there's a bit of a

dance...they know the political

reality of the ivory trade.

Bryan:
So it's not

carved recently?

How old is this one?

BC:
When a sales person is

telling me that ivory is old,

they're pegging it to a

pre-ban number, in other words,

they're telling me

that it's legal.

Sales girl 1:
Over ten

years old, twenty years...

Bryan:
Oh, 10 or 20 years old?

Sales girl 1:
Yeah.

Sales girl 2:
This is before.

Now it's never

kill the elephant.

BC:
When the odds, I know,

are that it's illegal.

Or that she doesn't know at all.

Bryan:
What do you think about

the African elephant issue,

and then...

you're in the business of

selling this beautiful art.

How do you think of

these 2 things together?

Saleswoman:
I don't

know how to say, sorry.

Bryan:
It's okay.

RANGERS WHO PROTECT ELEPHANTS I

N AFRICA CAN'T DODGE THE PROBLEM

SO EASILY.

THEY KNOW THE HORROR STORIES:

HOW IN JANUARY, 2012,

MARAUDERS ENTERED A

NATIONAL PARK IN CAMEROON,

KILLING NEARLY 300 ELEPHANTS .

HOW IN APRIL, POACHERS IN A

HELICOPTER MACHINE-GUNNED 22

ELEPHANTS IN A CONGOLESE PARK .

AND HOW, OVER THE

PAST 26 YEARS, 125,000

ELEPHANTS IN SOUTH

SUDAN HAVE BEEN KILLED,

LEAVING FEWER THAN 5000 TODAY .

IN BATTLE ZONE COUNTRIES, THE

ELEPHANT CONSERVATION MOVEMEN FIGHTS BACK WITH

AN ARMY OF ITS OWN.

David chatter in helicopter

FOR THE MOMENT THERE IS

ONE COUNTRY, KENYA,

THAT CLAIMS SOME SUCCESS IN

THE BATTLE FOR THE ELEPHANTS,

THANKS IN LARGE PART TO

PRIVATE PHILANTHROPY .

HERE THE ORGANIZATION 'SAVE THE

ELEPHANTS' FUNDS A PARAMILITARY

FORCE TO PATROL IN AND AROUND

SAMBURU NATIONAL PARK .

KENYA'S ANTI-POACHING

POLICY IS UNCOMPROMISING.

IF AN ARMED POACHER RESISTS,

WILDLIFE RANGERS ARE AUTHORIZED

TO SHOOT TO KILL.

KIP:
The law allows

our rangers to shoot.

This year alone we have

killed more than forty.

We have also lost 5

rangers this year.

So this is a deadly game,

and people lose lives in the

protection of this

precious heritage.

David:
I knew about 75% of these

animals, and I could tell you,

you know, all of

them, the names.

For example, this fresh lower

jaw here is a big bull called

Pretty Boom Boom.

He would actually walk and hit

using his trunk on the ground,

going 'boom boom.'

So that was Pretty Boom Boom.

That guy was Mandela.

That was Enthusiasm,

she was poached.

That was Venus, she was poached.

That was Racili, she

was a lovely elephant,

it was very sad.

But pretty much all of them

are animals that we know.

ON KENYA'S SOUTHERN BORDER,

A RESEARCH PROJECT HAS BEEN

STUDYING ONE POPULATION OF

ELEPHANTS FOR OVER FORTY YEARS.

IT HAS REVEALED JUST HOW

COMPLEX ELEPHANT SOCIETY IS .

SOILA SAYIALEL, A MEMBER

OF THE MAASAI TRIBE ,

HAS BEEN WITH THE AMBOSELI

TRUST FOR ELEPHANTS SINCE 1986 .

OF THE 15 HUNDRED ELEPHANTS

THAT COME AND GO HERE,

SHE KNOWS 950 BY NAME .

Soila:
The big female

with the long tusk,

her name is Aurabelle.

I've seen a couple of times,

Aurabelle helping young females,

trying to make the young

calf cross a river.

And you know she

knows how to do it,

because she's already old to

a point where she has a lot of

experience.

And you know, that's a

way of also teaching.

Old elephants teach young

elephants how to behave and what

exactly to do at a certain time.

Elephant families love

being with each other,

how tight they are.

At certain times you can see

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