Original subtitles

(tranquil music)

- [Narrator] Today, two shots accompany the sunrise,

and call Dwayne and his anti-poaching team on the alert.

This has become quite usual in this Zululand reserve in

the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

- [Dwayne] Moving from reserve to reserve for the

past ten years I've been working as a ranger in the bush,

it has its ups and downs.

- [Narrator] Ever day on alert and every day increasing his

efforts to avoid another rhino getting killed,

but these efforts are constantly draining and

increasingly in vain.

The rhino is a species that is over 40 million years old,

it has no natural predators,

and today is a rock in the wildlife ecosystem.

Rhinos are being increasingly hunted for their horn,

for an illegal trade and a demand that is

perpetually driven by myths from across the world.

They are attacked, shot and mutilated on lands that

have been their habitat for millions of years.

All because of the false belief that their horns have

powers of potency and healing.

The truth is rhino horn is nothing more than simple keratin,

the same as a human fingernail.

The situation has become critical,

and whilst this devastation continues to drive

more support from groups and communities alike,

it is still not enough.

- [Narrator] Rhino are poached ruthlessly in

an increasing amount every day,

because of the myth around the

medical purposes of rhino horn,

prevalent in Asian culture.

- As far as I know people are killing the

rhinos to get their horns to sell on the market,

because they're worth quite a lot of money on the market,

I don't know why,

because the rhino horn is just keratin,

it's the same as our fingernail,

so I don't know why people are hacking the

faces of these rhinos just to get fingernails.

- [Narrator] Some doctors refuse to talk about this or

explain the reason and value of what has

become recognised as simply myth.

- [Narrator] Even behind closed doors,

the topic of rhino horn is taboo,

among suppliers and consumers alike.

Although the communities around anti-poachers are

beginning to understand the nature of the problem.

- Overseas in the Asian counties,

the rhino horn is also for medicinal purposes,

and now it's also a status thing.

They can put it in their house and they obviously get

recognised for having this item In their house,

it's like and they are increasing their

status within their neighbour hood or whatever it is.

- [Narrator] Aside from status,

myths around medical benefit of rhino horn still

drives a large part of the demand.

- The culture around obtaining things like

horn and tiger pines and whatnot is,

well I think it's commonplace in China and a lot of the

myth behind it is mainly to do with sexual performance,

and people like to consume these products to

improve their sexual performance,

obviously it's not justified,

there's no guarantee that having tiger penis is

going to make you any better,

because it isn't.

- [Narrator] In Vietnam, demand for rhino horn has

grown exponentially in the last few years,

from more and more claims that it has cured

cancer an other deadly disease.

For some time now,

and in some communities,

mixing rhino horn into cocktails,

as if it possessed some kind of psychoactive effect,

has become almost fashionable and a sign of

prestige in some circles of the wealthy and elite.

This vanity and trend plays its part in explaining why the

price on the black market is higher than that of gold,

or even cocaine,

the issue of rhino and black market trade extends far past

the control of demand driven by myths in Asian culture,

it had become a global problem,

we are no longer only dealing with the extinction of

a species that is over 40 million years old,

but a demand for a substance that is attracting the

darkest methods of the black market trade.

The deeper we dig in,

a more complex situation unveils itself.

South Africa is home to the largest concentration and

population of rhino on the planet,

and along with it the most targeted and

entrenched poaching issues.

Whilst the problem is most prominently apparent in

South Africa,

countries such as China,

Vietnam and Mozambique are equally complicit in the trade.

All with governments and institutions that seem to

only shyly comply with

international protection recommendations.

As a recent example,

in April 2016,

the South African court of justice ruled in favour of

legalising rhino horn trade within its borders,

although this decision has not affected the

ban on international trade imposed by CITES,

it has been a step closer towards the

legalising of the rhino trade,

which is itself a question frequently debated at all levels.

After this ruling while poaching will still be illegal,

poachers are now able to freely move rhino horn

within south African territory,

but are still faced with the challenge of smuggling it

internationally where they can

command extensive prices and profits.

In addition to the tragedy of finding more and

more dead rhinos,

there is the horror of the suffering that they

endure after being shot and mutilated,

with their horn removed,

rhinos will struggle for hours before they die,

even with help from humans who find that

sometimes there is nothing they can do.

Too often the damage is too extensive and not recoverable.

This is Timba,

a rhino found after poachers had mutilated him

for his horn.

Despite best efforts from vets trying to save him,

the damages were so extensive,

he couldn't recover the movement of his leg and

drowned after 14 days of struggle and suffering.

(melancholy music)

Some of the closest vets cannot help but

feel fully responsible for the cruelty of humanity.

- I think people start to realise that a

lot of people should try to get away with it,

we caught a couple of poachers here already,

and the one guy said to us,

you know I get 70,000 Rand for this little horn,

that's three years salary for me,

do you understand?

And even if you take Mozambique,

something like 78 percent of rhinos shot in

Kruger is from Mozambicans,

it's the poorest country here in Africa,

but now they're suddenly building brick houses,

got TV screens,

all from rhino horns,

so now the ball is rolling,

ha, look what John's got,

a new home,

a brand new vehicle,

wow, he's got a TV,

oh, hey he's got a cell phone,

so now they all want to jump on the band

waggon and start hunting.

In the Kruger Park there's nothing less than

20 hunting gangs every day hunting elephant and rhino.

The reason why more poachers poach every day now,

is because everybody is aware,

and seeing their friends coming so well off,

so much money and making,

so benefiting from the rhino,

so you know that Mozambicans,

and I've had the bullet,

they take the path of rhino that I said were dead,

and they said to me, Brain,

they follow the tracks of the poacher,

when they get to the Mozambique border,

they just stand at the side and say

"Thank you for the horn",

and the communities there,

they lift him up on their shoulders,

and they walk, "hero!"

because everybody is getting to the infrastructure,

they're building homes, schools,

clinics,

they've got brick houses,

four wheel drives,

bowmen to protect their cattle from lions.

They're benefiting, the community is benefiting,

as opposed as how they used to live before,

with their old shit,

couldn't go to school,

a child no shoes and malnutrition,

snot running out of his nose,

you know, so how do you stop that,

so what happens is,

what's happening now is the rich guys,

the schemers in the background,

go to an innocent little guy who hasn't got much food,

and I know this for a fact,

here's 50,000 Rand in your pocket now,

and here's a rifle,

go there, they got rhino

and he's the one going,

the innocent guy,

and my heart bleeds,

I've actually caught poachers,

and I said to my wife,

my wife Beth,

I said honey,

when I brought him home,

I said make some give him some coffee,

I said now don't come again please,

do you understand,

that's the innocent one,

so these innocent guys,

who've got no education,

cannot even write,

get caught up,

and I tell you, I'd go the same way,

if a guy pushed 50,00 into my hand,

he hasn't had that his whole life,

and he's a rifle,

so those are the guys that are actually getting

shot to the park and getting caught.

Innocent,

so it's a middle man who's now liaising with the

exporters from Uputu out to China and Asia.

- [Narrator] In a country where employment is

scarce and no minimum wage,

the average household survives on less than

2300 Rand a month,

approximately 160 US dollars,

the opportunity to earn 50,000 dollars to

poach a horn becomes very tempting.

In the context of the black market,

the price of gold is 40,000 dollars per kilo,

while the price of rhino horn is

almost double at 75,000 dollars,

and if you consider than the average weight of a

horn from an adult rhino is between four to five kilos,

that means an average rhino horn can range in value

between 300 to 400,000 US dollars.

Even if the poachers only receive a portion of that,

it is no surprise that the risk for

reward is very attractive.

Sheila believes that these issues can be addressed

within communities if they are given opportunities,

her initiative,

Dance to be Wild,

works to educate children through dancing to

engage with these issues for a better future.

- That's what happens with poverty you get the

exploitation of people that are battling for money,

and they are being offered a huge amount just to

kill a rhino.

Yet they're not making all the money.

You get your kingpins and the people taking it overseas,

that's where the millions are being made,

and I believe the poachers and

actually being an other from of exploitation on Africans.

- [Narrator] However as a long term solution this can not

resolve the whole problem on the ground today,

and rhino are still being hunted and

anti-poaching efforts continue.

- We're based up in in the Northeast coast of South Africa,

we are very hard hit by rhino poaching,

and we see probably on average one or two cases a

week at the moment of poaching incidents,

this year alone we've lost over 105 rhino,

and we're first of December today,

so the year isn't finished yet,

and it's been an increase year on year for the

past couple of years.

Big frustration is that we as law enforcement,

not as the aviation side,

but the guys on the ground more so is that we are

fighting an asymmetric warfare,

one's got to be careful of the term warfare,

the criminal the suspect,

they can do whatever they want,

unfortunately we are bound by so many regulations,

so many rules,

that it makes our job very very difficult,

and together with that,

I would say a lack of political will,

and the lack of backing we have both locally and

internationally in terms of making real

efforts to address this issue.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Anti-poaching units are extensively trained

with tracking and paroling techniques and are able to

cover ground effectively when alerted.

Units patrol by air, as well as on the ground,

working together to keep track of rhinos and poachers alike,

this is never easy and unfortunately very often,

poachers evade these effort and flee into the bush.

(dramatic music)

While the anti-poaching unit has to leave the

mission with no positive result,

the situation is even worse 17 kilometres away,

where a storm reaches the KwaZulu-Natal region and

another rhino died last night.

- [Narrator] Often vets work in tandem with these teams

to help find clues for an attack on a rhino and

help understand what happened and track the

poachers responsible for another dead rhino.

- I had a quick look see to see if we could find the bullet,

there was a signal from the metal detector but it

was deeper than we had equipment to take out,

so we've come back again today to redo the

whole scene properly and hopefully find obviously what

killed this particular rhino,

it's pretty obviously what happened to it,

it's a shot that went in behind the left shoulder here,

through the top of the heart and bottom of the lungs,

it probably impacted somewhere on the

inside of the other leg,

and that's where we're going to start looking today.

- The red stars are In the context of

people shooting at each other,

and the blue stars where we had--

- [Narrator] In order to get better results,

anti-poaching units also work with the intel gathering

organisations operating within the communities to

stop the poachers before they start.

Robert is an undercover agent whose been able to

infiltrate the poaching community,

and set up a meeting with known poachers.

with any luck he will be able to gain information about

their activity and help the anti-poaching units

catch these criminals.

(speaking in foreign language)

The truth stands that as long as a common solution is

not agreed upon with a coherent effort to fight and

educate toward a common goal,

it will not mater how many anti-poaching units are

supported and deployed,

nor how brave and well equipped they are.

Their efforts will not be enough,

if we don't face this problem with determination and

don't commit to a common goal,

the rhino will continue to be hunted, to extinction.

The CITES treaty signed by over 180 countries,

including the likes of south Africa, Mozambique,

china and Vietnam,

where trade is most prominent has banned the

trade of rhino horn as far back as 1973.

It's goal is to protect endangered species,

and to promote plant conservation by controlling trade of

more than 30,000 species through a system of

import and export licences.

Nevertheless,

CITES recommendations are not always thoroughly applied,

and during our investigation,

it becomes apparent,

that there is a need to explore other solutions.

De-horning the rhino,

and the possibility of a controlled and licenced trade,

is one of the initiatives that people are

defending in order to address demand,

make rhino less attractive to poachers and save the species.

- If we dumped five tonne of rhino horn in Vietnam every year,

which is what we are capable of doing

without killing rhino,

how is that going to increase the killing of our

rhino in the Kruger National Park,

I think if you have a logical mind you will answer

that question that it's not going to increase the

killing of the rhino,

it's going to decrease the killing of the rhino.

- We don't normally de-horn black rhino,

because they use their horn in a day to day basis,

because they eat leaves so they need to

manipulate trees and move them about and stuff.

White rhino they eat grass,

and they don't really need the horn,

the only thing rhino use their horn for is to

fight each other.

It's much safer for our rhino if we de-horn them,

because they are much less attractive to poachers,

obviously if they can get a complete rhino horn its

worth a certain amount of money,

and if they can only get a little amount of horn,

it's worth a bit less,

so you still get some amateur poachers who go after them,

but the organised crime,

they would rather go for a complete horn on a rhino,

it does really do the whole rhino any harm,

they still eat, breed, sleep,

play in the mud, eat grass,

and then in about three years the horn simply

grows back again anyway,

so if you de-horn them you have to do it constantly.

(suspenseful music)

- [Narrator] While it still looks brutal,

the rhino does not suffer any pain,

and the vets work together with the team to help the

animal have the least disturbing experience possible.

The rhino are usually darted from a helicopter,

but also from the ground in smaller reserves,

eyes and ears and covered to avoid noise,

disturbance and damage from the saw.

A pen is used to mark the point of removal,

usually seven centimetres from the base of the front horn,

and five centimetres from the base of the back horn.

While under anaesthesia,

a chainsaw is used to cut the horn off horizontally,

the stump is trimmed to remove excess horn at the

base and then smoothed and covered with Stockholm tar,

in order to prevent cracking and drying.

Although this solution seems to contribute to

reducing the number of rhinos poached,

some people claim that de-horning is incredibly costly,

due to the effort of finding the animal,

and the costs associated with the mobilisation process,

especially if needed on a constant basis,

the actual cost depends on several factors,

but it is estimated to be from 620 US Dollars per animal in

the Kruger National Park to 100 dollars in private reserves.

Not everyone supports the de-horning of rhino

and legalising of trade,

it is an issue much disputed across the world,

but there are still people betting on saving the

rhino with this alternative.

- One of our problems with rhino survival is that a

dead rhino is worth more than a live rhino,

so if we can change that,

and we could easily change that with legalisation,

because at the moment,

it's not,

again I say,

it's not the demand that's killing rhino,

it's the way that demand is supplied,

we are putting more emphasis on saving the

horn than saving the rhino's life,

and if we legalise the trade in horn,

rhinos in this country will immediately double and

triple in value,

because people will be able to perpetuate the

breeding of the which they can't now.

- [Narrator] The conversation on whether it will

have a positive or negative impact are ongoing,

and arguments for both sides are plausible and prevalent.

- Look it's like a temporary stopgap,

they're still shooting rhino horns off,

because he's going in the full moon hunting,

and he looks and sees a rhino,

they've even shot hippo at night,

thinking it's a rhino,

so that's the vision they've got in the full moon,

so they see, they cock, they shoot it,

and it's got no horn,

but then they still take the little bit which is

worth 100,000 Rand,

so it might be a slight deterrent,

but it's not up to me to answer.

- As a person I'm totally against that.

I think we've got to remember that the trade in

rhino horn is controlled by criminals,

by legalising it, what are we endorsing,

and also if we legalise it what measures have we

got in place to actually control that legal trade,

when we look at what's happening today,

we don't even have the capacity to control legal trade.

- There's no solution,

the only way is you'd have to put them in barricaded camps,

with heavy armed rifles,

or they can all be wiped out,

sorry,

and even the rangers themselves they're all involved,

they're all involved underhand, underhand, underhand.

- 6.6.

6.8.

- Well you gotta get to Asia and China,

but you're not going to change it,

you say how do you believe that rubbish,

it's the same as a horse's hoof,

he'll say to you,

why do you believe in Easter Bunny and

Tom Thumb and Christmas day,

and Father Christmas, that's rubbish too,

so don't condemn us,

so you can't have the pot call the kettle black,

so we have a problem.

- [Narrator] however many resources have been put

towards addressing the problem,

and anti-poaching units increase their

efforts every day to avoid having infiltrators.

IN Africa, policies against ivory trafficking have

been successful,

and there is a sense that this will pave the

way for the rhinos.

So the importance would be to educate all parties involved,

that as with elephants,

we can make a living rhino much more valuable than a

dead one hanging as a trophy on the wall.

In 1982,

Japan was the world's biggest rhino horn importer,

it was only after its population gained awareness of the

situation that it's practises changed,

and nowadays the myths have been dispelled and

demand practically annulled.

The same shift occurred in South Korea,

where awareness and education played a

far more effective part in resolving the problem.

Changing one market alone will not solve the problem,

and a global effort must be made if a true solution is

to be found.

- To me it was we said to the Vietnamese we

are never going to sell you another rhino horn,

not through hunting,

not through live de-horning of rhinos,

we are not going to sell you another rhino horn ever again,

go away,

they did go away,

they went to Mozambique and did a deal with the

poachers in Mozambique,

and that's where they are being supplied from now,

rhinos that are being killed for to supply that demand.

- [Narrator] Anti-poaching units have to

patrol the borders in all areas where poachers can

go to get a rhino horn,

there are hundreds of miles to be covered in a

land with about 20,000 rhino.

But in the mean time the vets who discovered the

carcass of the rhino poached In the last thunderstorm,

realised that this was a mother,

and they have lost the baby calf from the scene.

Baby rhino are very fragile without their mother,

and usually can only last about 24 hours alone.

The rangers and rescue party now have to work against the

clock if they are to avoid finding yet another carcass.

(inspiring music)

- The sad thing is she had a baby, it's orphaned,

but the good thing is we found it in time,

and we manged to save that baby,

so that gene can carry on,

its not the end of them,

I think that besides losing the mother,

we managed to save the baby and I think it's a

good end to that story as well.

- [Narrator] Rhino can live up to between 40 and

50 years old.

The average calf spends the first two to three years with

its mother before becoming completely independent,

so depending on when a rhino is rescued,

the caring and reintegration process lasts

anything from two to five years,

or until the rhino seems able to share with other

rhinos and defend itself,

in some cases the rhino is never ready to

go back into the wild.

Petronelle, and her organisation Care for the Wild,

focus on the rescue and recovery of orphaned rhino,

and ensure their survival and eventual

reintegration into the wild.

- [Narrator] She has rescued over 200 rhino and has

kept them under her care for between two and ten years,

and sometimes even more.

The future,

we're gonna have a lot of rhino,

we have to focus on their life,

there's enough people saying,

look at this goal post,

look at what they've done,

there's a lot of them still alive,

make sure they stay alive.

- [Narrator] To keep them safe, all these

organisations work together,

even with other parks to improve results.

- [Narrator] As that conversation continues to

gain information from poachers,

their activities are revealed and more details are

gathered for anti-poaching units.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Narrator] As the discussion ramps up,

Robert leaves the poachers with enough intel to

ensure sharing it with the authorities.

This collaboration with intelligence organisations and

anti-poaching units has produced the best results,

and has allowed the anti-poaching units in South Africa to

arrest more than 300 criminals in 2015.

With this kind of intelligence at hand,

anti-poaching units are better equipped to track poachers,

and close in more effectively on potential hunting spots,

so as the sun sets the rangers begin their search.

They suspect that within these grounds,

poachers have targeted nearby rhino and are lying in wait.

The team have a first sighting and prepare to

approach potentially armed poachers.

(dramatic music)

(speaking in foreign language)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Narrator] But to preserve life, not only of this species,

but of all those that are endangered, demands our awareness,

the global change of paradigm,

and an approach to taking action.

Unless old patterns and methods are shaken off,

any containment policy that is implemented will

not be enough.

- We have to changed the failed policy.

The policy we are following is failing the rhinos miserably.

We have to change it,

and we are running out of time to change it,

we are also running out of numbers,

the very numbers of rhino that could save it from extinction

are being obliterated by the poachers.

(speaks in foreign language)

- [Narrator] While governments debate the

economics of de-horning,

Sangomas understand the problem from a

point of long standing ancient values,

(speaks in foreign language)

(inspiring music)

- Five count do free style.

Who knows what freestyle is?

Of course, who's going to volunteer to

show me your freestyle?

Show me your freestyle, come on.

(crowd cheers)

five, six, seven, eight.

(crowd claps and cheers)

- I think that teaching kids to dance is fun for children,

and children learn better when they're having fun,

and we can go and teach them about rhino conservations and

what's happening to our rhinos,

but how often can we tell them that with out

rounding an awful something else that they're having

fun all the time,

and basically dance lessons give us access to

those children on a weekly basis,

sometimes on a daily basis,

because at Dance to be Wild,

we dance, eat, sleep, dream about saving wildlife,

and that carries through to every part of their day

and it becomes a way of life for them,

we don't have to go an lecture them all the time,

because there's a certain amount of time you've

got to do that,

and it had to become part of the way they

live as African children.

Now you're animals and you're bigger and

you've got children,

and you want to be able to take your

children and you grandchildren and

we'll still have these beautiful animals.

Well In this fight against rhino poaching,

we've got the side in Africa in

embracing Africans into conservation,

we also have to stop the demand which is

largely coming for the Asian counties,

now dancing is really popular in Asia,

and it's really important that we use this

vehicle we've got of dance,

in the same way that we're doing with Africans, with Asians.

(crowd cheer)

- With Dance for the Wild and what Sheila's so

great at doing,

is that we go to schools and approach them,

and we go to schools surrounding places like the

Kruger National Park where many children haven't

even had a chance to see a rhino,

and we are trying to show the locals and Africans how

they need to embrace their heritage and their wildlife,

so it's such an important thing for Africa,

so the way we get the children involved,

by creating awareness and going and entertaining them,

you get their attention if you do a little fun

dance In the beginning,

you don't just go and preaching about the sad

things and about the rhino poaching,

because any child is going to get bored,

you've gotta get their attention,

so the best way to do that is by dancing,

they all love it,

and they have a great response.

(crowd chanting)

- So if the criminal elements approach them they've got

enough self esteem and value themselves to value the

fact that their South African wildlife actually plays

such an important part,

and they turn down the criminals that are exploiting them.

(singing and cheering)

(slow dance beat)

(upbeat guitar music)

(slow hip-hop music)

(slow hip-hop music)

(slow hip-hop music)

(cheering from crowd)

- They want to know about the rhino,

they're starting to dance,

because I told them to throw the rhino,

now they want to find out about the rhino,

what is the rhino,

so by teaching the kids,

it will contribute to the future,

because these kids will grow up knowing the

rhino is important,

they will respect the rhino.

- [All] Say no to rhino poaching.

- [Narrator] Poaching is not only a result of

illegal trade, profits, or lack of resources and

coherent policies when trying to fight against it,

it is an issue that runs deeper, that poses the question,

what is it going to be,

destruction or conservation, what are we committed to,

what are we teaching our future generations,

the answers we give to ourselves will depend not only on the

survival of the rhino as a species,

but also on that of our own.

(tranquil music)