Episode 1 Saving Africa's Elephants: Hugh and the Ivory War


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ELEPHANT GROWLS

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ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

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'Our most iconic African species are being pushed towards extinction,

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'killed by poachers

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'to supply an illegal trade worth up to £15 billion a year.'

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Oh, that's sickening.

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'On the front line of this war are Africa's elephants,

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'slaughtered for their ivory.'

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'Despite a ban on the international ivory trade,

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'the killing is only getting worse.'

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'30,000 are shot every year, and if that continues,

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'they could be gone from the wild within 25 years.'

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'I can't bear to think

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'we might lose these wise and emotionally-intelligent animals.'

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Bulletproof for you...

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'So I'm investigating the violent and murky world

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'of the illegal ivory trade.'

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'Who's doing the killing?'

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-That is quite a weight of lead there, too, isn't it?

-Yes.

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'And who's doing the buying and selling?'

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This is our guy.

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'Are we, in the UK, part of the problem?'

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It's going to exactly the same market as the modern poached ivory.

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'And if so, how can I prove it?'

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Six out of nine pieces, illegal.

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'Armed with the facts and the evidence,

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'it's time to do everything we can...'

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-PROTESTERS YELL:

-Save our elephants!

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'..for Africa's elephants.'

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If we're going to stop the killing of elephants,

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I need to understand the global trail of poached ivory.

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It's spring 2016,

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and I'm responding to a call that could put me onto that trail.

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At Heathrow, Customs have seized a consignment of fresh ivory.

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It's been smuggled in suitcases

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by two passengers transferring through the airport.

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This is our operational office.

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'I've been invited, by Border Force's Grant Miller,

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'to join zoologist Alex Rhodes as he takes samples from the ivory.'

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Goodness, it's all here.

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This is just shy of 140 kilos of ivory

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that was detected at the UK border.

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'This haul could fetch up to £120,000 on the black market.

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'Some has been roughly worked into beads and bangles,

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'but there are also raw tusks cut up into sections.'

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I didn't expect to see this in England.

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I mean, this, to me, seems like a foreign problem,

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but it's here on our own ground.

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This has something immediate and very brutal about it and...

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you know, this is dried meat,

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this is from inside the elephant's body, isn't it?

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-Absolutely.

-It's just...

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It even has a smell to it

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that suggests that this didn't happen very long ago.

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A third of an elephant's tusk is embedded deep in its head,

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so the only way to remove it is by killing the animal.

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You can see the hack marks here...

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where, with a knife or with a machete,

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they've used it to cleave the tusk away from the head of the animal.

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That's right.

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Part of Alex's work is to collect samples of recent seizures

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for DNA analysis.

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What we're going to do here is we're going to take the meat off it.

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It doesn't matter if it comes off in pieces.

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Yeah, that's perfect.

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'The DNA will be compared to a genetic map of African elephants

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'to pinpoint where these animals were shot.'

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Is there a sort of quantity of material

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we're looking here for, Alex?

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Cos I'm not particularly relishing this task, I can tell you.

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HUGH SIGHS

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If you look closely, you can see this is actually a skull here.

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Oh, my God.

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'The compiled data points to the latest poaching hot spots in Africa,

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'which helps focus anti-poaching efforts on the ground.'

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Hugh, I think you're probably there.

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HUGH EXHALES

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Well, that was horrible.

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I just hope it's useful.

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Well, don't we all?

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Don't we all?

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I didn't come here today

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expecting to scrape dead meat off an elephant's tusk.

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I've never touched an elephant's tusk before

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and...I-I don't know, I came looking for...

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I don't know, some kind of insight or understanding

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and I actually feel now viscerally connected to the problem.

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Last year alone, Border Force made 182 seizures of ivory in the UK.

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Worldwide, the tusks of around 5,000 elephants were intercepted.

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But that's just a fraction of the smuggled ivory

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that goes undetected to its destination.

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I need to get to the grim starting point

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in the international trail of illegal ivory.

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The DNA testing of ivory hauls, like the one at Heathrow,

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shows that 78% of recently poached ivory

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is from the savannah elephants of Tanzania and Mozambique.

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So I'm heading to the heart of this killing zone...

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the Niassa Reserve in northern Mozambique.

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It's vast - twice the size of Wales.

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There's only the odd settlement and no big tourist industry.

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In fact, very few people at all.

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We've just dropped down through the clouds

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and the landscape just looks amazing here.

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It's the wildest bit of Africa I've ever seen.

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We really are in the middle of nowhere.

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'The reserve is jointly managed by the Mozambican Government

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'and the Wildlife Conservation Society.'

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-Hi, Rob.

-Hugh, welcome to the Niassa Reserve.

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Thank you very much.

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'Rob Craig is the reserve manager.'

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-Popping in the back?

-Just jump in here, yeah.

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'With the help of around 100 rangers,

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'his job is to protect this huge area.'

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'To get a handle on the scale of the challenge,

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'he's taking me up onto one of the spectacular outcrops.'

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I think that's the most incredible African view I've ever seen, Rob.

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-That's Niassa.

-Yep.

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There's wild dogs there, leopards, hyenas, antelopes.

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You've got, obviously, the elephants and there's over 1,000 lions.

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And why is it so special for Africa's savannah elephants?

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Um, I think it's just... it is one of the key refuges,

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one of the key wilderness areas,

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where elephants can roam in the wild still.

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So, how bad has it been, then?

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I mean, obviously, we've lost a lot of elephants here.

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In 2011, our estimate was about 12,000 elephants.

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-In Niassa?

-In Niassa Reserve alone...

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and we've now... In a count we did in 2014, exactly three years later,

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we had dropped to 4,441.

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So nearly two thirds of the elephants

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-have already gone in just the last three years?

-Mm-hm.

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-That's a tragedy, isn't it?

-Yep.

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At the start of the 20th century,

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there were around 10 million elephants in Africa.

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In 1989, with just 600,000 left, the world finally took decisive action.

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Delegates from more than 100 countries

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have agreed to ban all trade in ivory.

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The decision was taken at the United Nations...

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The price of ivory fell and elephant numbers actually began to recover.

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But from the start of the new millennium,

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demand in Asia has boomed

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and poaching has returned to devastating levels.

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ENGINE RATTLES, HUGH MOUTHS

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'Jamie Wilson runs the surveillance

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'for a stretch of the reserve bordering Tanzania.

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'He's offered to take me up in his microlight.'

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Wow, incredible view from up here!

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The microlight is a great tool for us to use, to see what's going on.

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We've been seeing all the elephant signs, all these trails and tracks.

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-All those tracks are made by elephants, are they?

-Yes.

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And because of the pressure of the poaching,

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they've become nocturnal and they're hiding now.

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We should be seeing them now, but they're all hiding in the trees.

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So, they've become much harder to spot

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since the poaching got really bad?

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In neighbouring Tanzania, across the river,

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over 60% of the country's elephants have been killed

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in just the last seven years.

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As poachers there have found it harder to track down their target,

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they've come over into Mozambique.

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My problem in this area is the cross-border poaching.

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They hit and run across the border and I can't follow or do anything.

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So, you're basically in the front line

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as the poachers come across from Tanzania?

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That's exactly the word I was looking for, the front line.

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Yeah, we might actually see some elephants here,

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I can see some signs.

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There's a mud wallow right there, you can actually see it.

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Oh, yeah. I can actually see the elephants' footprints in the mud.

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Ah, there's some, look. You can see them running into those trees there.

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-Yeah, I can see them, yeah.

-You can see their backs.

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Yeah, four or five, just moving through the bush.

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Wow. My first Niassa elephants.

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I can see them.

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There they are.

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Now that we've located some of the elusive Niassa elephants,

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I'm hoping I might get closer to them.

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(There we are.)

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(Wow.)

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(It's absolutely fantastic to see them.)

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(Now, there's something about elephants that's so universal.

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(Familiar. Everybody in the world knows what elephants look like.

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(They've seen them on TV,

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(they've read stories about them when they were kids.

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(But to get this close to elephants that are truly wild

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(in such a beautiful place, there's nothing like it.

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(My heart's thumping.)

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(We were just on our way back to camp

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(and in the last of the evening light...)

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(..we saw this young bull...

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(out here, chomping at the grasses, quite happy.)

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(But to me, away from the herd, out here on his own...)

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(..he somehow looks really vulnerable.)

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'The next morning, I find out just how vulnerable these elephants are.

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'Rob wants to show me the reality of poaching, here, in the reserve.'

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-This is where we start to walk?

-This is where we start. So, we're going to head straight this way.

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A few weeks ago,

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this village reported the sound of shots fired in the bush nearby.

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Leading the way are the reserve rangers

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who first followed up the report.

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I can smell dead things.

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Wow.

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Here we go. Here we go.

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'Part of Rob's work is to confirm the cause of death

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'for any elephant carcasses reported by the rangers.'

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There's nothing left.

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Nothing at all.

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Every single bone...picked clean.

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It's obviously been completely ravaged and torn apart by hyenas

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and vultures and predators.

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FLIES BUZZ

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You're looking for, like, evidence of how it died

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and looking for bullet holes and...

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Is that any kind of...? That's not a bullet hole, is it?

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-AK. AK-47?

-Yes.

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Yeah. There's two shooters.

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-Two shooters.

-The team would be bigger.

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Of course.

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'A typical gang will include a couple of men to cut out the tusks

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'and carry them away.

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'Between all of them,

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'they'll probably share as little as £100 for their work.'

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-One small tusk on a subadult.

-Mm.

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Either they're getting a very good price for their ivory,

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or they just don't mind what they shoot.

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Yeah.

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-HUGH SIGHS

-Yeah.

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I guess in some ways it's a relief that I wasn't confronted

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with a more grisly scene here

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of something that had happened... very recently.

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But, unfortunately, there is a grisly scene playing out in my head

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and that's the scene of what actually happened here,

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when this young male with a single small tusk

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ran into a gang of poachers,

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shooting him with at least six or seven shots and hacking out

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that one little tusk.

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It's a horrible scene, it's a horrible thing to think about,

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but the real horror is that this isn't just ONE scene,

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this scene's being played out all over Africa, day after day,

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30,000 times a year.

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This will happen 80 times today in Africa.

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I want to know WHO'S killing elephants so blatantly

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in a national reserve.

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When I start asking around, one of Jamie's scouts, Gustavo,

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mentions a recent encounter with local Mozambique border guards.

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Running for 350km along the edge of the reserve,

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the river Ruvuma marks the border between Tanzania and Mozambique.

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The border guards are employed by the Government

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to monitor and patrol this boundary.

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But Gustavo's story suggests there may be something else

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going on at this stretch of river.

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To dig deeper,

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we drive to a nearby village where the local border guards are based,

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and one of them lets me through the checkpoint.

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As tradition dictates,

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my translator Alberto and I go to talk to the chief first.

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THEY SPEAK LOCAL LANGUAGE

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Have you heard about the problems

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of elephants being killed in the reserve

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and their ivory being taken away?

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Are people still coming into the reserve now to kill elephants

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or has it stopped?

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It feels to me that the chief knows more, but doesn't want to speak out.

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With 8,000 elephants killed in their reserve in the last five years,

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the villagers must know something.

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'And when Alberto does some discreet asking around,

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'one local farmer says he IS prepared to talk to me.'

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So we can speak in private, Khamati suggests that we head to his fields.

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Do elephants come here often, or not so much now?

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And who are the people who are coming to shoot the elephants?

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Do they live in the reserve or do they come from outside the reserve?

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So, Tanzanian poachers...

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-Yes.

-..are coming over the river...

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Yes.

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..and they pick up guns from the border guards?

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Khamati tells me that once the poachers have done their work,

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they hand the guns back to the border guards and smuggle the ivory

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across the river into Tanzania.

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I don't want to create problems for the villagers

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by openly challenging the guards here...

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but I CAN test how well they're monitoring

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illegal crossings of the border.

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There's no official border point here,

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so I wonder what'll happen if I try and cross,

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clearly in their view, without any papers.

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We're nearly halfway.

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What sort of things do people bring across the river?

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They can bring some crops, bicycles, motorbike.

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-Motorbikes?

-Yes.

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Things to buy and sell.

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OK.

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Tanzania, we're nearly there.

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Ooh...

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Salama!

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I'm on Tanzanian soil.

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Well, that was easy.

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If you want to get illegal ivory

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across the river into Tanzania and away,

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it couldn't be easier.

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Who's going to stop you?

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The people who should stop it, the border guards,

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they're involved.

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So, what hope is there for the elephants of the Niassa Reserve

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that I've been with for the last couple of days,

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that I've seen looking so stunning in that incredible landscape,

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but also lying slaughtered in the bush?

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The slaughter's just going to go on.

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Once across the river,

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the ivory flows into a well-established web of traffickers,

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travelling north through Tanzania.

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At each stage, it's passed up the criminal chain.

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Evidence suggests it can often be handed on

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from Tanzanians to Chinese kingpins,

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who know it can fetch up to £1,000 a kilo on the Asian market.

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It's hard to get a fix on the ivory during this murky journey...

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until it reaches a pinch point as it leaves the continent.

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And a mountain of evidence suggests that Kenya

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is one of the key exit points.

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I'm on my way to Mombasa port

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because it's clear that a lot of ivory

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is getting out through Mombasa.

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In fact, in the last year, there've been two enormous seizures,

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but they weren't actually at the port,

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they were at the other end, on arrival -

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one of them in Thailand and the other in Singapore.

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"Thailand seizes 500 elephant tusks worth £4 million, which were hidden

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"in sacks of tea leaves on a ship from Kenya."

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So, they got through Mombasa without being detected.

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And I want to find out just how leaky this port is.

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Mombasa is the busiest port in east Africa,

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with over a million containers passing through here every year.

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The port authorities are notoriously sensitive about journalists.

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But I have managed to get permission to film with the sniffer dog squad.

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-Hi, Mark.

-Hello.

-Hello again.

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'Mark Kinyua is in charge

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'of the unit of two dogs and their handlers.'

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Thank you. Good to meet you.

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'Diva and Rum can detect the faintest scent of ivory.

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'But there are thousands of containers

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'passing through here every day

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'and these two dogs also have to cover the airport

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'and a long stretch of the Kenya coastline.'

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Ah, it's wood. 100% wood. Incredible smell!

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How many days a week are you here with your dogs?

0:23:220:23:24

Yesterday we were here,

0:23:240:23:26

so sometimes we come four days in a week, three days in a week,

0:23:260:23:28

depending on the amount of work outside.

0:23:280:23:31

And what's the biggest number of containers you would look at

0:23:310:23:34

in a single day's work?

0:23:340:23:36

Perhaps...four or something...

0:23:360:23:38

-OK.

-Yes.

0:23:380:23:39

So, two, three, four days a week...

0:23:390:23:42

-Two, three, four containers a day.

-Exactly.

0:23:420:23:44

Customs and the port's X-ray container scanning unit

0:23:460:23:48

decide which containers to send for further checks by the dogs.

0:23:480:23:53

So, how much success have you had with the sniffer dog team,

0:23:540:23:57

here, in Mombasa port?

0:23:570:23:58

Isn't part of the problem here

0:24:020:24:04

that it's a tiny amount of containers that

0:24:040:24:05

you're actually searching?

0:24:050:24:07

-I mean, 15 or 20 a week at the most?

-Exactly.

0:24:070:24:10

You've just seen - how many containers are we going through...?

0:24:100:24:13

I think three, four now.

0:24:130:24:15

Three or four this morning, and none of them are destined for Asia.

0:24:150:24:18

-And none of them are destined for Asia.

-All right.

-Yes, yes.

0:24:180:24:20

It's clear to me that Mark and his dogs

0:24:210:24:24

are looking for needles in haystacks

0:24:240:24:26

and I don't think they're being given

0:24:260:24:29

the right haystacks to look in.

0:24:290:24:30

Now that I'm inside the port,

0:24:320:24:34

I've got a chance to do a bit more digging.

0:24:340:24:37

I tracked down the X-ray scanner

0:24:370:24:39

that's meant to be checking containers

0:24:390:24:41

at one of the main entries into the port.

0:24:410:24:43

Well, we're just outside the scanning unit here.

0:24:450:24:49

It's this big shed.

0:24:490:24:50

The really interesting thing

0:24:500:24:52

is that there's a huge queue of containers there

0:24:520:24:54

to go into the port and it doesn't really look as if a lot of them

0:24:540:24:57

are being diverted through the scanner.

0:24:570:25:00

Hi.

0:25:000:25:01

'It's not long before our camera

0:25:010:25:03

'attracts the attention of the head of scanning.'

0:25:030:25:06

I'm Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall from the BBC.

0:25:060:25:08

'With a little encouragement,

0:25:080:25:10

'he agrees to show me how his scanner works.'

0:25:100:25:13

So, what we shall do...

0:25:130:25:15

I'll scan an import consignment,

0:25:150:25:18

-because this is an import consignment.

-OK.

0:25:180:25:21

'He instructs one of the lorries to drive through the scanner.'

0:25:210:25:25

Come and see, come and see.

0:25:320:25:33

OK, I think it's pretty obvious what's in that one!

0:25:330:25:35

'The scanner can clearly be an effective tool.

0:25:350:25:38

'The question is - how's it being used?'

0:25:380:25:42

So, I'm just trying to establish

0:25:420:25:44

what the percentage of full containers

0:25:440:25:49

leaving Mombasa is being scanned.

0:25:490:25:52

What normally happens is that there's no container

0:25:520:25:57

that is completely exempt from scanning,

0:25:570:26:00

but for the authorised economic operators,

0:26:000:26:04

who we normally select at a random basis, yeah...?

0:26:040:26:08

-Ah.

-..a number of their containers for scanning.

0:26:080:26:11

Ah. So, authorised economic operators,

0:26:110:26:13

is that mainly tea companies?

0:26:130:26:15

-Tea. Tea.

-Only tea?

0:26:150:26:17

-Tea.

-It's tea? We're talking about tea?

0:26:170:26:18

So, everything's scanned except the tea companies,

0:26:180:26:21

who are tested on a random basis?

0:26:210:26:24

It's interesting that two loads of ivory

0:26:240:26:29

were intercepted in Thailand and Singapore that had come from Mombasa

0:26:290:26:35

and they were both in consignments of tea.

0:26:350:26:38

I will not respond to that.

0:26:390:26:40

-You don't want to talk about that at all?

-I don't want to talk about it.

0:26:430:26:46

How confident are you personally

0:26:460:26:49

that no ivory is leaving Kenya through the port of Mombasa -

0:26:490:26:53

either in the last few months

0:26:530:26:54

and it won't happen for the next few months?

0:26:540:26:56

100%. 100%.

0:26:560:26:59

I find it hard to share the head of scanning's confidence about that.

0:27:010:27:05

Even when the scanner IS working,

0:27:060:27:09

the exemption of certain companies from routine scanning

0:27:090:27:12

is clearly a problem.

0:27:120:27:13

Especially as they deal in the very product

0:27:150:27:18

in which large hauls of ivory have twice recently been found...

0:27:180:27:22

Tea.

0:27:220:27:23

CAR HORNS BEEP

0:27:240:27:27

We've been putting some feelers out and we've been in touch

0:27:280:27:31

with a few local journalists,

0:27:310:27:32

trying to find out a bit more about what's really going on at the port

0:27:320:27:36

and one of our contacts has come back, saying he's found someone

0:27:360:27:40

who works at the port who might be prepared to talk to us

0:27:400:27:43

and could throw some light on the whole situation.

0:27:430:27:46

'We've agreed a rendezvous at a mall car park.'

0:27:490:27:53

OK. Let me just walk over...

0:27:530:27:55

..and get in the back.

0:27:560:27:57

'The source -

0:27:590:28:00

'who's directly involved with checking containers at the port -

0:28:000:28:03

'is extremely nervous.'

0:28:030:28:05

Good afternoon, it's... I'm Hugh.

0:28:090:28:12

'We agree to relocate to somewhere less conspicuous.'

0:28:130:28:17

Do you...? Do you mind if I ask you a few questions then?

0:28:180:28:22

How do you think it might be possible

0:28:220:28:24

that people are managing to get ivory through the system

0:28:240:28:28

at Mombasa port,

0:28:280:28:29

past the scanners and past the inspections?

0:28:290:28:32

Do you want to park here and we can just continue to chat?

0:28:420:28:45

So, the containers that are vulnerable

0:28:550:28:57

are the ones from the big companies,

0:28:570:28:59

-that it's the same over and over again.

-Exactly, because...

0:28:590:29:01

-It's like the routine.

-Mm-hm and...

0:29:010:29:03

What about when it gets to the port?

0:29:110:29:13

Somebody at the port must know

0:29:130:29:14

that that particular container mustn't be scanned.

0:29:140:29:18

People can be induced not to scan the container?

0:29:270:29:29

This isn't evidence against any particular individual,

0:29:350:29:39

but it does suggest the billions being made in this trade

0:29:390:29:42

buys enough turned heads at international borders like Mombasa

0:29:420:29:46

for tonnes of ivory to get through.

0:29:460:29:49

From here, the vast majority of smuggled ivory

0:29:520:29:55

makes its way east towards Asia...

0:29:550:29:57

..where one city has long been a central hub

0:29:590:30:01

for the Asian ivory trade.

0:30:010:30:03

Ivory has been part of the culture here for centuries.

0:30:070:30:11

But modern consumption really began to take off

0:30:110:30:14

under the British administration,

0:30:140:30:16

during the boom years of the Hong Kong economy

0:30:160:30:19

from the 1960s onwards.

0:30:190:30:21

By 1987, Hong Kong's ivory workshops were consuming over a third

0:30:220:30:27

of the world's raw ivory.

0:30:270:30:29

I'm just heading out for a little explore.

0:30:310:30:35

A bit of Hong Kong antiques window shopping.

0:30:350:30:37

I just want to get a feel for what's on offer

0:30:370:30:40

in this famously cosmopolitan city.

0:30:400:30:42

The international ban in 1989

0:30:440:30:46

was meant to stop the flow of fresh African ivory.

0:30:460:30:49

But, here in Hong Kong,

0:30:500:30:52

there's still a legal domestic trade in pre-'89 ivory,

0:30:520:30:56

with 371 businesses licensed to sell it.

0:30:560:31:00

So, where's all this ivory coming from?

0:31:030:31:06

Have the traders found ways of beating the ban?

0:31:060:31:09

Of laundering newly-poached African ivory?

0:31:090:31:12

Can we come in?

0:31:130:31:14

Is it OK to come in and do a little bit of filming?

0:31:160:31:18

-No, no, no.

-No?

-No.

-Why not?

0:31:180:31:21

This trader isn't at all keen to talk to me,

0:31:210:31:24

and quickly shuts up shop.

0:31:240:31:27

In fact, most of the traders here

0:31:280:31:30

are clear about their attitude to cameras.

0:31:300:31:33

Then, in a row of smart antique shops,

0:31:350:31:38

I see a particularly spectacular window display.

0:31:380:31:42

Wow.

0:31:420:31:43

That is staggering.

0:31:440:31:45

It's just incredible craftsmanship.

0:31:470:31:49

Ivory is clearly a remarkable material,

0:31:520:31:55

and the sheer skill and time required to work it

0:31:550:31:59

explains why some of the larger pieces here

0:31:590:32:02

are priced at over 1 million US dollars.

0:32:020:32:05

But this isn't elephant ivory.

0:32:060:32:09

Mammoth tusks.

0:32:130:32:14

"Our artworks are carved out from rare mammoth tusks

0:32:160:32:19

"that have been frozen for tens of thousands of years."

0:32:190:32:22

Mammoth ivory is entirely legal here.

0:32:240:32:27

So is elephant ivory from before the 1989 ban.

0:32:270:32:31

And here is a problem.

0:32:320:32:34

Because - if it's recently carved -

0:32:340:32:36

mammoth ivory, pre-1989 ivory and freshly poached ivory

0:32:360:32:42

all look the same.

0:32:420:32:44

Customs seizures here suggest that new ivory

0:32:460:32:49

is regularly being smuggled into Hong Kong.

0:32:490:32:52

It seems possible that Hong Kong traders could be passing off

0:32:520:32:56

African poached ivory as the legal stuff.

0:32:560:32:59

-Hi, Alex. How are you?

-How's it going?

0:32:590:33:01

'For clues on how they might be able to do this,

0:33:010:33:04

'I'm meeting up with Hong Kong wildlife campaigner Alex Hofford.'

0:33:040:33:08

I guess what I can see straight away, just wandering round,

0:33:090:33:12

is that it's a little bit of a minefield,

0:33:120:33:14

what's legal and what's isn't.

0:33:140:33:16

But I imagine, if I walk into a shop,

0:33:160:33:18

someone's going to tell me that it's legal.

0:33:180:33:19

Yeah, I mean, that's the thing.

0:33:190:33:21

It's that it's actually very, very difficult for law enforcement,

0:33:210:33:25

for the media, for NGOs and for the public,

0:33:250:33:27

for anybody to really understand what the hell's going on.

0:33:270:33:30

Is it pre-convention, or is it from after 1989? Who knows?

0:33:300:33:33

And it's a big mess right now.

0:33:330:33:35

So, what we know has been happening is that...

0:33:350:33:38

The amount of ivory that was in Hong Kong at the time of the ban in 1990

0:33:380:33:42

was 670 tonnes. OK?

0:33:420:33:45

And then it went down quite sharply and then it plateaued out.

0:33:450:33:48

And it's been plateauing ever since. And the reason it's plateauing

0:33:480:33:51

is because the traders have been feeding poached ivory from Africa

0:33:510:33:54

into their existing stockpiles.

0:33:540:33:56

And so that's where the laundering's been going on.

0:33:560:33:58

They're buying from the criminal networks,

0:33:580:34:00

perhaps the Triads... Right?

0:34:000:34:02

..who are then buying from the other Triad groups in Africa,

0:34:020:34:05

who are buying it off the poachers.

0:34:050:34:07

So that's the supply chain.

0:34:070:34:09

How many traders or shops have been successfully prosecuted

0:34:090:34:12

and put out of business for selling illegal ivory?

0:34:120:34:15

-None.

-Not one?

0:34:150:34:16

Not one, no.

0:34:160:34:18

There's a lot of loopholes.

0:34:180:34:19

You know, the traders, they basically know how to play the game.

0:34:190:34:23

They've been playing the game since 1989

0:34:230:34:25

and so they know every trick in the book.

0:34:250:34:28

'To connect the Hong Kong ivory trade

0:34:280:34:30

'with the killing of African elephants,

0:34:300:34:33

'I need to prove that the shops here

0:34:330:34:35

'are constantly restocking their shelves with fresh ivory.

0:34:350:34:38

'I can't really do that with a camera crew in tow,

0:34:390:34:42

'so I'm going undercover.'

0:34:420:34:44

So I'm going ivory shopping.

0:34:440:34:46

But to do that convincingly, I need a cover story.

0:34:460:34:50

And this is it.

0:34:500:34:51

My name's Hugh Edmund,

0:34:510:34:53

and I've started a business called Far Flung Foods.

0:34:530:34:56

"Exotic foods and gifts for adventurous spirits."

0:34:560:34:59

But the real connection between Far Flung Foods and ivory

0:34:590:35:03

all boils down to one thing.

0:35:030:35:05

Chopsticks.

0:35:050:35:07

'My cover story is that I'm in the market for a lot of ivory chopsticks

0:35:080:35:13

'as gifts for my best clients.'

0:35:130:35:15

Hi, come on in. Have a seat.

0:35:150:35:16

'My undercover partner

0:35:160:35:17

'and translator for the day is local campaigner Willy.'

0:35:170:35:21

So, here's the next thing.

0:35:210:35:23

-We need to do some secret filming in there.

-OK.

0:35:240:35:27

And I've got one very simple bit of kit, which I'd like you to use.

0:35:270:35:31

So we're recording now.

0:35:310:35:33

-In fact, we're probably pointing at our crew here.

-OK.

0:35:330:35:36

If you're happy to wear this,

0:35:360:35:38

we should get very clear sound from both you and whoever we talk to.

0:35:380:35:42

-So, if you pop that in your pocket.

-Yeah.

-OK?

0:35:420:35:44

-Yeah. Perfect.

-Let's do it.

0:35:440:35:46

DOOR CHIMES

0:35:550:35:56

-Morning. Thank you. AUTOMATED VOICE:

-'Hello. Welcome.'

0:35:560:35:59

-Hello.

-Hi, how are you?

-I'm good, thank you.

0:35:590:36:01

Do you sell ivory chopsticks?

0:36:010:36:03

Yes, we do.

0:36:030:36:04

So, I have a business.

0:36:040:36:06

OK, yes. Yes. OK, yeah.

0:36:060:36:08

And so I might want quite a lot.

0:36:080:36:10

Sure, sure, yes. No problem at all, yes.

0:36:100:36:12

Maybe 50 pairs to begin with.

0:36:120:36:14

And this is elephant ivory, not mammoth?

0:36:140:36:16

-Yes.

-It's elephant?

-Elephant.

-OK.

0:36:160:36:19

Do you think this would be easy for me to take this back to the UK?

0:36:190:36:23

4am?

0:36:260:36:27

4am, Heathrow?

0:36:270:36:29

-No customs?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Very clever.

0:36:290:36:32

'It's a useful tip if you're smuggling ivory into the UK.

0:36:320:36:36

'Which is, of course, illegal.'

0:36:360:36:37

How are you? Are you mostly mammoth, or mostly ivory here?

0:36:370:36:40

These look good.

0:36:420:36:43

So, I might want quite a lot.

0:36:440:36:46

Like, maybe 50 pairs.

0:36:460:36:47

OK. Thank you.

0:36:500:36:51

-Hi.

-Hello.

0:36:560:36:58

I'm interested in buying quite a lot of chopsticks.

0:36:580:37:02

What does that literally say there?

0:37:020:37:04

This is from the Congo?

0:37:080:37:10

Is this new ivory?

0:37:110:37:12

Before 1989?

0:37:160:37:17

So the ivory's old, but are the chopsticks new?

0:37:170:37:20

That went well. A huge amount of product in there.

0:37:270:37:30

-Yeah.

-Huge. I mean, thousands of figurines.

0:37:300:37:33

He said he's got a factory.

0:37:330:37:34

You know, the implication is that they're churning that stuff out,

0:37:340:37:37

they can do it to order.

0:37:370:37:39

They've got a factory ready to pump out new pieces of ivory on demand

0:37:390:37:44

to a customer's designs.

0:37:440:37:45

How's that possible 25 years after the Hong Kong stockpile of ivory

0:37:470:37:52

was supposed to stop growing in any way, shape or form?

0:37:520:37:55

I need to find out where these fresh supplies are coming from.

0:38:000:38:03

But my cover story's taken me as far as I can go,

0:38:040:38:08

and I need some more help.

0:38:080:38:10

Thanks so much for coming, guys.

0:38:100:38:11

'Ray and James - not their real names -

0:38:110:38:14

'are undercover operators ready to pose as credible buyers

0:38:140:38:18

'from the biggest Asian market of all -

0:38:180:38:21

'mainland China.'

0:38:210:38:22

I think my opportunities as a Westerner are really limited.

0:38:220:38:26

If they're going to open up, they need to have a sense

0:38:260:38:29

that they're talking to someone who's a bit of a player,

0:38:290:38:31

who's interested in doing a bigger bit of business with them.

0:38:310:38:35

And you guys are going to fit that bill so much better.

0:38:350:38:37

OK, so you basically want to buy tusks.

0:38:450:38:48

Yeah, I mean that's going to cut straight to the chase.

0:38:480:38:50

It's a camera pen.

0:38:530:38:54

I've got a little mic pack here,

0:38:540:38:56

with a light wire.

0:38:560:38:58

Really, really straightforward.

0:38:580:39:01

Really look forward to catching up with you later.

0:39:010:39:03

-Good luck, guys.

-Good luck.

-Yeah. Seriously.

0:39:030:39:06

While Ray and James hit the shops undercover,

0:39:080:39:11

I'm going for the best open interview I can get -

0:39:110:39:15

the company secretary of the Hong Kong Ivory Manufacturers Association

0:39:150:39:20

has agreed to be filmed at his workshop.

0:39:200:39:22

Thank you very much for inviting me in.

0:39:230:39:26

His name is Daniel Chan.

0:39:260:39:27

-Mammoth?

-Yeah.

-OK.

0:39:320:39:34

-This is mammoth material.

-This is mammoth tusks, is it?

0:39:420:39:44

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Let's have a little look at them.

-Yeah.

0:39:440:39:48

This is all mammoth?

0:39:490:39:51

Yeah.

0:39:510:39:52

-Is this also mammoth?

-Yes.

0:39:540:39:56

Right. I'll take your word for it.

0:39:560:39:58

I've seen your figures, your carvings,

0:39:580:40:00

-in the cases on the way in.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

0:40:000:40:02

Where is that ivory from?

0:40:020:40:04

-Well, let's have a look at it, and you can tell me.

-OK.

0:40:120:40:15

OK.

0:40:150:40:17

-Mm. This is all elephant ivory?

-Yeah.

0:40:180:40:21

So when were these made?

0:40:210:40:23

I really don't think so. These pieces are new.

0:40:310:40:35

Because there's just...

0:40:380:40:40

They didn't have that plastic wrapping technology in 1990.

0:40:400:40:44

Your telling me these pieces were made before 1990?

0:40:470:40:50

OK.

0:40:530:40:54

-These two?

-These also.

0:41:010:41:04

He made these pieces?

0:41:040:41:05

-Yeah.

-Really? In 1990?

-Er, yeah.

0:41:050:41:09

So, all these really fresh, new-looking pieces,

0:41:090:41:12

shrink-wrapped in plastic, were made by your father?

0:41:120:41:15

It just seems very unlikely to me.

0:41:160:41:18

You're saying you have bought no ivory from elephants since 1990?

0:41:210:41:25

None? Zero?

0:41:250:41:27

Yeah?

0:41:280:41:29

Really? Preconvention ivory from Europe? Can you buy that?

0:41:370:41:42

-Yes.

-That's legal?

0:41:420:41:43

Yes. Now.

0:41:430:41:45

Now.

0:41:450:41:46

Have you bought European ivory yourself?

0:41:550:41:58

-Yes.

-When?

0:42:000:42:01

-You were buying and selling European ivory last year?

-Yeah.

0:42:040:42:07

How can you prove that this ivory is preconvention or pre-1990?

0:42:070:42:12

How can you prove it? DANIEL SIGHS

0:42:120:42:14

So, you bought this preconvention ivory and it's from Europe?

0:42:170:42:20

Yeah, licensed.

0:42:200:42:21

You read for yourself.

0:42:230:42:24

Country of re-export, the Netherlands.

0:42:240:42:27

And the country of origin is Mozambique.

0:42:270:42:29

-Here.

-"Preconvention specimen acquired during 1960 to 1970."

0:42:290:42:34

-Yeah.

-Pretty vague.

0:42:340:42:36

It's been stamped, er...

0:42:360:42:37

..and licensed for re-export at the Hague.

0:42:380:42:41

If that's a legal document, why are you snatching it away from me?

0:42:460:42:49

You are not my customer.

0:42:520:42:53

And even now, I don't know, who are you?

0:42:530:42:56

Nonsense!

0:42:570:42:58

You wanted to show me your licence, so I thought you were happy for...

0:42:580:43:01

I showed you. I have a licence.

0:43:010:43:03

-OK, so I thought...

-Because you are not my customer.

0:43:030:43:06

I cannot show to you.

0:43:060:43:07

This is private.

0:43:070:43:09

-I thought you...

-Secret. OK?

0:43:090:43:11

'I think our conversation has reached its conclusion.

0:43:130:43:16

'But I have discovered one of the ways that ivory shops in Hong Kong

0:43:170:43:22

'are being re-stocked.

0:43:220:43:23

'And it's one which clearly has the potential

0:43:230:43:26

'to launder poached ivory, too.'

0:43:260:43:28

So, it seems that you can bring ivory into Hong Kong

0:43:300:43:33

if it's preconvention ivory and particularly from the EU,

0:43:330:43:37

there's...a paperwork, a system, that allows you to bring it in.

0:43:370:43:41

So, they can bring in EU ivory and rework it and sell it legally.

0:43:410:43:46

You know, I feel pretty uneasy about that.

0:43:470:43:49

I mean, that's basically...

0:43:490:43:52

the idea that Europe's off-loading its stocks of ivory

0:43:520:43:55

that it's no longer particularly interested in,

0:43:550:43:57

in order to make money and, at the same time, fuel the ivory trade.

0:43:570:44:02

OK, it's legal,

0:44:020:44:04

but it's still perpetuating the supply of ivory to Hong Kong

0:44:040:44:08

and adding extra possible cover for illegal imports.

0:44:080:44:11

I don't think that's a very responsible thing

0:44:110:44:13

for the EU to be doing.

0:44:130:44:14

Ray and James are back from their undercover trawl,

0:44:160:44:20

and I'm wondering if they've unearthed

0:44:200:44:22

any evidence of recently-poached African ivory.

0:44:220:44:25

I've got you back lit again.

0:44:250:44:28

Can't wait to see what you've got.

0:44:280:44:29

-Yes.

-And, er... Any good?

0:44:290:44:32

-Yeah.

-Let's have a look.

0:44:320:44:33

We went to shop number three and we just asked,

0:44:340:44:39

"We want some raw material for ivory tusks."

0:44:390:44:42

This is the boss?

0:44:580:44:59

This is ivory here, isn't it?

0:45:020:45:03

That's a lot of ivory.

0:45:050:45:06

-Oh, my God. Can I pause it there?

-Yes.

0:45:080:45:11

Wow.

0:45:120:45:13

That's a lot of ivory.

0:45:140:45:15

That was just lying on the floor?

0:45:180:45:19

Wow.

0:45:210:45:23

So that's also from Europe?

0:45:320:45:34

Old ivory from Europe again -

0:45:370:45:40

dozens of whole tusks this time.

0:45:400:45:42

Like Mr Chan, this dealer says it's legal.

0:45:420:45:46

But what's shocking here is the scale of it.

0:45:460:45:48

He's got access to 200 tonnes of ivory in France.

0:45:550:45:59

-Yes.

-All old ivory.

0:45:590:46:01

All old ivory.

0:46:010:46:02

It seems that quite a lot of people in Europe are selling their ivory

0:46:160:46:19

and quite a lot of it's ending up here in Hong Kong.

0:46:190:46:22

It certainly sounds a less risky way to bring ivory into Hong Kong

0:46:280:46:32

than bringing freshly-poached African ivory.

0:46:320:46:35

But it could also be a cover for freshly-poached African ivory.

0:46:350:46:39

Fascinating and, I think, really useful stuff.

0:46:390:46:42

Thank you so much.

0:46:420:46:43

-Thank you.

-Real pleasure working with you.

-My pleasure.

0:46:430:46:47

The ivory trade here is clearly being replenished and fuelled

0:46:520:46:56

by material coming from right under our noses in Europe,

0:46:560:47:00

and all apparently legal.

0:47:000:47:02

With Hong Kong's lax enforcement -

0:47:030:47:05

zero prosecutions to date, remember -

0:47:050:47:08

it would be so easy to quietly add recently-poached African ivory

0:47:080:47:13

to your pile of recently-imported European ivory.

0:47:130:47:16

I'm on my way to the airport.

0:47:160:47:18

I'm flying back to the UK tonight,

0:47:180:47:21

and I've literally just downloaded a video clip,

0:47:210:47:24

sent by one of our contacts in Hong Kong,

0:47:240:47:27

of some undercover filming they did.

0:47:270:47:29

And it's quite clearly the same trader

0:47:290:47:31

who was talking to my guys from the mainland

0:47:310:47:34

about the European ivory.

0:47:340:47:36

It's the same office, same guy.

0:47:360:47:38

And, actually, here you can just see it's the same tusks.

0:47:380:47:42

So it must be very recently.

0:47:420:47:44

But in this clip, he says quite clearly here,

0:47:440:47:47

"I can get ivory from Africa any time.

0:47:470:47:50

"And I can sell it to you."

0:47:500:47:52

So, the question I've been pondering,

0:47:590:48:01

about whether this preconvention European ivory

0:48:010:48:04

that's being imported legally into Hong Kong

0:48:040:48:07

could be being used as cover for illegal African ivory,

0:48:070:48:11

seems to be answered here.

0:48:110:48:12

He's selling European ivory, he's offering to sell African ivory.

0:48:140:48:18

The two are being mingled by the same dealer, in the same office.

0:48:180:48:22

And if he's doing it, it seems likely others are doing it, too.

0:48:230:48:27

The sheer quantity of European ivory reaching Asia

0:48:280:48:32

has been a real eye-opener.

0:48:320:48:33

And my next question is, "How much of it's coming from the UK?"

0:48:360:48:40

Historically, we've certainly been deeply involved

0:48:430:48:47

with the ivory trade.

0:48:470:48:48

In this London warehouse, where tusks have been coming in

0:48:480:48:51

since the days of Charles II, the latest consignments

0:48:510:48:54

are cut up for the first stage of their transformation

0:48:540:48:57

into ivory-backed brushes, mirrors and combs.

0:48:570:49:01

To satisfy the fancies of an expanding middle class,

0:49:010:49:04

between 1860 and 1920, Britain imported the tusks

0:49:040:49:09

of an estimated 1.1 million African elephants.

0:49:090:49:13

That's more than twice as many elephants

0:49:130:49:16

as are alive in Africa today.

0:49:160:49:18

The sale or export of raw ivory is now banned in the UK.

0:49:200:49:24

But, surprising as it may seem,

0:49:260:49:27

the trade in antique ivory pieces is still legal.

0:49:270:49:30

Although the Conservative Party promised to press for a total ban

0:49:320:49:36

on the UK ivory market in both their 2010 and 2015 manifestos,

0:49:360:49:41

here we are in the summer of 2016, and it still hasn't happened.

0:49:410:49:45

And you can find ivory pieces on sale all over Britain -

0:49:470:49:50

in auctions, antique shops and increasingly online.

0:49:500:49:55

So who's doing the buying?

0:49:560:49:58

And where does UK ivory end up?

0:49:580:50:00

Come in.

0:50:000:50:01

'I've asked auctioneer and TV antiques expert James Lewis

0:50:010:50:05

'to help me take a look at the market.'

0:50:050:50:08

Just have a seat.

0:50:080:50:09

I've been looking at some of the online auctions that you mentioned.

0:50:100:50:13

What's your estimate of how many ivory pieces

0:50:130:50:16

get sold in the UK in the average week?

0:50:160:50:18

500 to 1,000 pieces, I should think.

0:50:190:50:21

-Really?

-Yeah.

-So, sort of 20,000 to 50,000 pieces a year?

0:50:210:50:25

Really? Do you have any sense of who the buyers normally are?

0:50:250:50:29

Yeah, as an auctioneer, when you're on the rostrum,

0:50:290:50:32

you see the live bidding numbers flashing up on your screen.

0:50:320:50:37

And in the top right-hand corner, there's a code. A country code.

0:50:370:50:41

So you know exactly where those bids are coming from.

0:50:410:50:43

And when you get a solid block -

0:50:430:50:45

something carved, that has a weight to it -

0:50:450:50:48

that's where the Chinese and Vietnamese are buying it.

0:50:480:50:50

-So they're ending up on sale in the same countries that are...

-Yeah.

0:50:500:50:54

-..that have a high demand for illegal ivory.

-Yeah.

0:50:540:50:57

Tell me exactly what the rules are here.

0:50:570:51:00

I mean, people selling this, what are they allowed to sell?

0:51:000:51:03

What are they not allowed to sell?

0:51:030:51:04

Anything really pre-1947 is legal to sell.

0:51:040:51:09

-That's the critical date?

-That's the rule.

-I mean, some of them,

0:51:090:51:13

it's not really clear how old they are at all.

0:51:130:51:15

They don't even necessarily put a date on anything here.

0:51:150:51:18

Yeah, see that's the problem. It is so difficult.

0:51:180:51:20

It's not like a piece of silver that has a hallmark, where you can say,

0:51:200:51:24

"That dates to that year."

0:51:240:51:26

And when it's so difficult, it's difficult to enforce the law

0:51:260:51:29

and it's difficult to ensure that you're not breaking the law.

0:51:290:51:34

'I show James what's on sale over the next couple of days.

0:51:340:51:38

'I'm wondering if he can spot any pieces

0:51:380:51:40

'that might be breaking the law.'

0:51:400:51:42

Let's just scroll down and stop at anything

0:51:420:51:44

that you think looks particularly interesting, James.

0:51:440:51:47

I mean, here's a solid ivory piece.

0:51:470:51:49

I'm quite suspicious of that.

0:51:490:51:51

It's got the pale colour, it's got the inked beard.

0:51:510:51:55

It-it hasn't faded at all.

0:51:550:51:58

So, if I wanted to prove beyond doubt

0:51:580:52:01

that there is illegal, post-1947 ivory

0:52:010:52:04

being traded in the UK on sites like this,

0:52:040:52:07

buying this piece and getting it dated could prove that?

0:52:070:52:11

-Yeah. It's worth giving it a go.

-OK.

0:52:110:52:14

'This piece is one of dozens being auctioned live online today.'

0:52:140:52:19

60. 70.

0:52:190:52:21

-AUCTIONEER:

-'Five.'

-Do you want to bid?

-Yeah.

0:52:210:52:24

-Somebody's also very keen on this piece.

-Yeah.

0:52:240:52:26

Do you want to go to 140?

0:52:260:52:28

We're going up in tens now. Yeah.

0:52:280:52:30

'140. Internet there, 140.'

0:52:300:52:32

-Ooh, they're telling us we've won.

-GAVEL BANGS

0:52:320:52:34

-Yep, there we go.

-Oh, we've got it. Gosh.

-OK.

0:52:340:52:37

'With the help of James's keen eye,

0:52:370:52:39

'I buy several more pieces that look a bit suspect.'

0:52:390:52:42

Available for...

0:52:420:52:43

'I'm sending them off for the one test

0:52:430:52:45

'that can prove their age and legality beyond doubt.

0:52:450:52:49

'Radiocarbon dating.'

0:52:490:52:51

It will be interesting to see how old this piece turns out to be,

0:52:510:52:55

but there's really no question that European ivory

0:52:550:52:58

is heading over to China and other Asian countries,

0:52:580:53:01

where it's continuing to stimulate a market

0:53:010:53:04

-that definitely includes illegal ivory.

-Yeah.

0:53:040:53:06

Exactly the same market as the modern poached ivory.

0:53:060:53:11

So how much UK ivory is making its way to Asia?

0:53:130:53:17

Official figures from the Hong Kong Government

0:53:180:53:20

show that, last year, over 2,500 pieces of UK ivory

0:53:200:53:25

arrived in Hong Kong alone -

0:53:250:53:27

more than twice as many as the previous year.

0:53:270:53:30

The radiocarbon dating work on my UK ivory purchases is complete.

0:53:340:53:39

So I'm heading to Oxford University

0:53:390:53:41

to meet Professor Chris Ramsey for the big result.

0:53:410:53:44

-Chris. Hi.

-Ah, hello.

-How are you?

-Very nice to meet you.

0:53:460:53:49

-Very nice to see you. How's it going?

-Good.

0:53:490:53:51

Oh, and here they are.

0:53:510:53:52

Yes, that's right. So these are the ivories.

0:53:520:53:55

So you've taken a tiny amount of ivory from each object.

0:53:550:53:58

What have you done with it then?

0:53:580:53:59

Yeah, so that powdered ivory is just purified and converted into a form

0:53:590:54:04

that we can then measure it on our accelerator mass spectrometer.

0:54:040:54:07

-The accelerator mass spectrometer?

-That's right.

0:54:070:54:09

This vast machine collects

0:54:090:54:12

and counts the carbon-14 atoms from our samples,

0:54:120:54:16

which will give us the date when the ivory being tested

0:54:160:54:19

was still growing on a living elephant.

0:54:190:54:22

Just to be clear, I'm looking for anything that's post-1947.

0:54:220:54:27

I'd like to start with the piece

0:54:270:54:28

that's described as 17th to 18th-century here.

0:54:280:54:32

What does your carbon testing tell us it is?

0:54:320:54:34

Right. That date is coming through at 1972 to 1974.

0:54:340:54:40

-You're kidding!

-With a very small probability in the 1960s.

0:54:400:54:43

So it's definitely after 1950.

0:54:430:54:47

Wow.

0:54:470:54:48

OK. On to the tiger.

0:54:490:54:51

So, this is one which is probably pre-1950.

0:54:510:54:55

It could be anything from about sort of 1700, later.

0:54:550:54:58

-But quite likely Victorian period.

-OK.

0:54:580:55:01

What about this African lady's head?

0:55:010:55:04

That's one is the most likely, 1978 to 1980.

0:55:040:55:09

Really? Late '70s.

0:55:090:55:11

Wow. OK.

0:55:110:55:12

'The date proves that this ivory piece is illegal in the UK.

0:55:120:55:17

'But it's not the date when the elephants died.

0:55:170:55:19

'It's when the ivory actually formed in the elephant's head.

0:55:190:55:23

'So these illegal pieces could have come from animals

0:55:230:55:26

'that died much more recently.'

0:55:260:55:28

Lastly, this sort of lantern, candle burner.

0:55:280:55:33

So this is either sort of '62, '63, or the 1980s - 1980, '82.

0:55:330:55:38

Another illegal piece of ivory.

0:55:380:55:41

So, four out of nine pieces definitely illegal,

0:55:410:55:46

shouldn't be on sale.

0:55:460:55:47

And another two, even though the ivory's older,

0:55:470:55:50

are illegal by virtue of being recently reworked.

0:55:500:55:53

I don't know about you, Chris, but I find that pretty extraordinary.

0:55:550:55:58

It shouldn't really be for sale at all.

0:55:580:56:01

These results are really shocking.

0:56:050:56:08

This is modern ivory.

0:56:080:56:10

It could be from elephants that were killed in Africa

0:56:100:56:13

in the last ten years.

0:56:130:56:14

That's worrying enough.

0:56:140:56:16

But, actually, I think the real problem

0:56:160:56:18

is the sheer quantity of UK ivory

0:56:180:56:21

that's now streaming into the Asian market.

0:56:210:56:23

More than 2,500 pieces arrived in Hong Kong last year.

0:56:230:56:28

This ivory's all going to restock and stimulate the same Asian market

0:56:280:56:33

that we know is selling poached ivory from Africa.

0:56:330:56:37

I think that makes us part of the problem.

0:56:370:56:40

Now, we have a government who's pledged twice now

0:56:400:56:43

to end the UK ivory trade. So why hasn't that happened?

0:56:430:56:48

I think we deserve an answer to that question.

0:56:480:56:50

And I'm going to make it my business to get one.

0:56:500:56:54

'Next time, I venture into the murky world of illegal wildlife dealers.'

0:56:540:56:59

He's just sent us a picture of 1 million worth of rhino horns.

0:56:590:57:02

'Following the scent deep undercover in Vietnam.'

0:57:020:57:05

I can see straight away that this is real.

0:57:050:57:08

Real, yeah.

0:57:080:57:10

'I experience the war on poaching first-hand.'

0:57:110:57:14

I guess this is it. I'm on the front line now.

0:57:140:57:16

'And back home...'

0:57:160:57:17

-Good. Nice to see you again.

-Good to see you.

0:57:170:57:19

'..the case against the UK ivory trade hots up.'

0:57:190:57:22

Here is our government finally saying something about ivory,

0:57:220:57:26

and spectacularly missing the point.

0:57:260:57:28

'So I take the fight all the way to the top.'

0:57:280:57:31

Minister. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

0:57:310:57:33

-Oh, hello. Hi.

-How are you?

0:57:330:57:35

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