Battle for the Elephants Page #4

Then we'll talk.

I want to see the quality.

TO GET TO WHERE THE

IVORY IS STASHED,

THE SELLER INSISTS THA AIDAN TRAVEL WITH HIM.

DURING THE DISORIENTING HOUR

DRIVE THROUGH THE SLUMS OF DAR

ES SALAAM, THE SELLER OPENS UP.

AH:
So you're saying that

powerful people in Tanzania are

selling ivory?

Politicians?

Seller:
Yea.

The people who work with the

government in Tanzania they're

in this business they have too

much money.

Aidan:
How do you know?

Seller:
I know because I am

Tanzaian

AH:
But you said an

airplane was coming today?

Seller:
That's

the VIP, you know,

that's the government of China.

They are passing through,

'cause there's no checking,

they're VIP.

AH:
Oh, I see,

they're diplomats.

So they go out in

the diplomatic bag.

[Yeah] Yeah, the ivory?

THE SELLER'S CLAIM THA DIPLOMATS ARE SMUGGLING IVORY IS

FAMILIAR, BUT HAS

NEVER BEEN PROVEN.

A CBS NEWS REPORT FROM 2012

UNCOVERED A SIMILAR STORY IN

EGYPT.

CBS Reporter:
One shop owner

told us that his clients

included Chinese officials

who had visited Egypt on state

business.

Seller:
The special airplane

going back, they put the stuff.

Reporter:
You get Chinese

government officials?

Seller:
Yea

Reporter:
They bought from you?

Seller:
Yea.

THIS IS A PATTERN THAT THE

ENVIRONMENTAL:

INVESTIGATION AGENCY HAS

DOCUMENTED-REPEATED ALLEGATIONS

THAT HIGH LEVEL DIPLOMATS BUYING

IVORY AND RHINO HORN AND THEN

TRANSPORTING THEM BACK TO

ASIA ON GOVERNMENT AIRCRAFT.

Seller:
The Chinese who

is coming on the airplane,

they are sending money

before the Chinese,

they are sending in Tanzania.

They buy the stuff for

them, you understand?

AH:
So the Chinese in China are

sending money in order to buy

ivory, which can go

back on the plane?

[Yes] Very organized.

[Yeah.]

THE CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY

IS ON RECORD AS:

OPPOSING IVORY SMUGGLING.

WHEN CONTACTED ABOU THESE ALLEGATIONS,

NEITHER THE CHINESE NOR THE

TANZANIAN GOVERNMENT RESPONDED .

Seller:
This is my business.

[Oka Close the door.

AH:
Alright, let's have a

look at the rest of them.

How many have you got here

[here, just 6 or 7].

I just want to see because you

said some of them were cut.

Seller:
No, this is no cut.

This is no cut.

So if you give us money

today, I keep for you.

Others are cutting.

But this is no cut.

AH:
What we secretly filmed

with that ivory trader gave us

incredible evidence of just how

rampant the illegal ivory trade

is in Tanzania.

He showed us 8 tusks.

I was very struck as we looked

at these things lying on his bed

that they represented

4 dead elephant.

You could still see the

dried blood on them.

He said that it was 20 kilograms

of ivory and he wanted the cash

then and there - 8,000

dollars is what he wanted.

On the open market in China

that could fetch up to

40,000 dollars.

And he promised to gather

within 3 days perhaps up to 300

kilograms of the stuff.

Incredible!

Bryan:
It's not very difficult

to understand the incentives of

an elephant walking by with

these huge white lines of money

on their faces.

That's a chance to change a

person's family for generations

perhaps.

And you've got on the other side

of the world 1.3 billion people

with unprecedented

purchasing power.

The smallest fashion interest

reverberates throughout the

world.

BRYAN SUSPECTS THERE IS ANOTHER

COMPLICATING FACTOR: FAITH.

Brian:
The elephant symbolizes

happiness in Buddhism?

IN BEIJING, BRYAN

VISITS XUE PING,

A WEALTHY BUSINESS MAN WHO HAS

INVESTED A FORTUNE INTO IVORY,

NOW ON PUBLIC DISPLAY.

THE COLLECTION EXPRESSES HIS

VENERATION OF TRADITIONAL ARTS,

AND HIS PIETY AS A BUDDHIST .

Bryan:
It's okay?

That's extraordinary!

I'm going to ask you this

because I think you have a very

good heart, and you know there

is an element to the ivory story

that is also very difficult.

So I wonder how you think

people should think about the

relationship between the

elephant and ivory and the

Buddha and man?

XP:
Elephants are our friends.

After an elephant dies, it

devotes its ivory tusks to us so

we can make these Buddha statues

and let the love of religion

arise in our people.

So we believe that the elephant

themselves should feel happy and

joyful that they have

left their tusks for us.

Brian:
When I hear someone say

that elephants are smiling when

they die, because their tusks

are going to celebrate the

Buddha, he is painting this

with a religious brush,

with a spiritual brush,

this terrible tragedy,

this rampant killing.

Criminal prosecutors might say,

well, you were willfully blind.

You knew, you should have known,

and it's even worse than that.

You were blind on purpose.

The Buddha is not smiling.

IN AFRICA, THE ELEPHAN DOESN'T ALWAYS HELP ITS CAUSE.

AS HUMANS ENCROACH

ON ITS HABITAT,

IT FREQUENTLY TRESPASSES, OFTEN

INCITING VILLAGERSTO FIGHT BACK.

WITH THE DOUBLE BENEFIT OF

PROFITING FROM THE IVORY

WHILEPROTECTING THEIR FIELDS,

ELEPHANT CONSERVATION IS A HARD

SELL.

SO HOW DO YOU TURN

PEOPLE AROUND?

ON THE EDGE OF:

AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK,

RICHARD BONHAM AND BIG LIFE

FOUNDATION MAY HAVE FOUND A WAY.

FOR ALMOST 20 YEARS RICHARD HAS

EMPLOYED LOCAL COMMUNITY MEMBERS

TO JOIN IN THE BATTLE.

BY OFFERING COMPETITIVE WAGES ,

MANY ARE MOTIVATED TO FIGHT FOR

THE ELEPHANTS, INSTEAD

OF AGAINST THEM.

RB:
Some of the best rangers

we've got are actually

ex-poachers.

So a lot of what we do is trying

to gain the trust and the hearts

and the minds of the community,

who are living with these

animals.

Once you've done that, you have

no need to have highly trained,

special unit Ops,

armed to the teeth.

You can do it just

on a community level,

and bring them onside.

RB:
We employ now about 230

game rangers from within the

community.

The morale is incredible.

We have people every day

applying for jobs as game

scouts.

They've got prestige

in the community,

they enjoy the discipline,

the comradeship,

the spirit de corps, they

start seeing their livelihood

improving, their standard

of living going up.

The reality is, we've got all

their families backing us.

AND THAT HAS MADE ALL THE

DIFFERENCE FOR THE ELEPHANTS.

RB:
In the last 18 months

we've lost 16 elephants.

When you compare

that to 30 a day,

which are the numbers

coming out of Tanzania,

things are going very well here.

RB:
Right now we seem to be

keeping the situation under

control, but it could go

out of control so easily.

If prices continue to go up, we

get gangs coming in we could be

losing the same amount of

animals as they are in Tanzania.

FOR NEARLY 25 YEARS , DECISIONS

ABOUT WHETHER IVORY CAN OR

CANNOT BE TRADED HAVE

BEEN DETERMINED BY CITES,

THE ORGANIZATION THA ADMINISTERS THE BAN ON IVORY

TRADE.

Julian Blanc:
The purpose is

to regulate trade in endangered

species, so that trade can

happen in such a way that it

does not compromise

their long-term survival.

Patrick Omondi:
Kenya is

convinced that the experimental

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