Since 2007 rhino poaching in South Africa has increased by 3000%. This undercover report reveals evidence of the involvement of high-ranking government-affiliated individuals in a shocking international trade.
Widely used in traditional Chinese medicine and an increasingly sough-after status symbol, rhino horn products can be easily bought all over South East Asia. But DNA tests on those products reveal that up to 90% of them are fakes. So what is behind the alarming poaching rates of the African rhino? Following a trail from South Africa, through Vietnam to Laos, conservation activist Karl Ammann uncovers the complicity of high-ranking officials in the illegal trade. Caught on hidden camera, a horn trader confesses: “My clients are mainly provincial leaders, local governors”. With prices for real rhino horn reaching $60,000 per kilo and international agencies unable to tackle the problem, is there anything we can do to protect these endangered animals?
