Let's Review

Below is my review of the Netflix documentary The Ivory Game.

Curious to learn about more endangered species? Read about gorillas' endangerment here.

Wow. I am not sure I have ever been so intrigued by a documentary before. Being truthful, I often think they are dull and hard to focus on but I can truthfully say that The Ivory Game successfully kept my attention throughout. The documentaries' structure was easy to follow, and intertwined facts and expert opinions well with the story line. Furthermore, it presented viewers with not only the stark realities that are often sugar-coated in the media but a few success stories at the end to inspire hope and encourage involvement for continuous progress. Lastly, the use of elephant video documentation, both alive and dead, forced viewers to see elephants are living beings with a heart, life, and mind. This visual paired with the documentaries' mission to stop poachers made for an extremely impactful film.

Let's get down to the details... SPOILERS!!!

The documentary followed several conservationists in their efforts to stop poaching and the illegal ivory trade. The main story followed Elisifa Ngowi, the head of intelligence for Tanzania’s National and Transnational Serious Crimes Investigation Unit (NTSCIU), on his search for the number one most wanted poacher at the time, Boniface Mariango. Mariango is more commonly known and referred to as Shetani, meaning "the devil without remorse." Shetani is "responsible for more than 10,000 elephant deaths himself," making his arrest pertinent to the end of poaching. Ngowi was 74 at the time of the documentaries' release, proving that an impact can be made my anyone, anywhere, at any age. The documentary explained how fighting against poaching, specifically regarding Shetani, was especially difficult since all killing, selling, and purchasing is done in secret. Ngowi's efforts to find and arrest Shetani did not come without severe risks: he and his rangers were warned by Shetani that he would not hesitate to kill. A point that Ngowi made that I found extremely valid was that preventing poaching is consequently preventing terrorism. By prohibiting illegal poaching, people have less money to purchase weapons "for their jihad (terror) war"(Ngowi). Eventually, Ngowi receives an anonymous tip that Shetani was near his home in Dar es Salaam but the amount of guns near and available to Shetani made going there very dangerous. Ngowi and his team did so anyway and successfully arrested him! It was several years work for this and important win for elephant conservation efforts.

Another aspect of the documentary followed the efforts of Craig Millar, the head of security for Big Life Foundation. Millar, with the help of the director of operations for Big Life Foundation Richard Bonham, worked to intercept human interaction with elephants that would lead to elephant deaths. For example, after being warned that a herd of elephants were congregating in farmland, Millar and Bonham rushed to the area to scare the elephants away before they were killed. If they were killed it would not necessarily be considered poaching, however, would often lead people to become poachers. In the interaction with the local group ready to kill elephants a man described that the farmland is for his children so that they can eat and make money, not for elephants to roam through and ruin. Millar's mission in Africa thus became efforts to build fences between wild land and human development.

Yet another sub-story of The Ivory Game followed Wildleaks head of investigation Andrea Crosta. Wildleaks works to stop illegal selling and buying of ivory through anonymous tips and sources. A quote from Crosta I found especially important for people to hear is that "elephants revisit scenes of where another elephant died. They come and feel the burns, they smell the ivory if it's still there. They've been known to go and collect tusks that have been taken away from a carcass and return them back to the same carcass." Elephants are living beings, and that is something humanity should do better to remember given the above evidence. With the help of a consistent anonymous tip source (unnamed), Crosta gathered extensive incriminating video evidence against ivory traders with the help of investigative journalist and Chinese activist Hongxiang Huang. He then presented such evidence at Hong Kong government headquarters to a member of the Chinese Parliament. Afterwards, at the Wildpaid Press Conference, Parliament called for a complete ban of ivory in Hong Kong - a huge win for conservation. For Huang, releasing his image was a dangerous and difficult decision since he would no longer be able to go undercover and could also be pursued by people he deceived in order to gather evidence against them. For example, a large project for Hong was to investigate Nhi Khe, a village roughly 10-20 km away from the tusk and rhino horn verge Hanoi. His job, as described by the Wildlife Justice Commission, was to discover the role of the village. Through undercover operations, Hong discovered that a specific government and military official were accepting bribes and covering tracks of poachers smuggling in ivory. Hong said, "The destiny of elephants is entirely in the hands of one single person. The president of China." A powerful statement but one reiterated when Crosta said that change cannot come only with the work of conservationists, but must also require involvement from politicians and journalists.

The last large story of the film followed Georgina Kamanga, head of intelligence for the Zambian Wildlife Authority. Kamanga, after hearing that poaching had spread to Zambia due to Shetani's efforts, was determined to banish it from the country. She eventually successfully caught and arrested the sellers in Zambia.

A powerful symbol

Despite the many successes in the film, I found the final scene to be particularly impactful and moving. Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya, and Iaian Douglass, Founder of Save the Elephants, were at an event burning 15 tons of ivory in Kenya. To put that in perspective, that is 1,500 elephants killed. Douglas said, "this is an international problem. It's not Africa's problem. The individuals that are fighting this battle, they can't win it alone. It's too big, too complex." This ending, I believe, invited viewers to think about what they could do to continue conservation growth and presented hope as a possibility as long as continuous efforts are made. The decision to burn the ivory was a message to poachers and traders that they will not win this war without a fight. They may have killed elephants, but efforts will be made to make sure they see none of that profit.

Kenya destroyed the rest of its ivory stockpile, 105 tons, in 2016. Africa has roughly 700 tons left.

I'd like to quote a few of the statistics and facts presented in writing at both the beginnig and end of the film. They were both disturbing and saddening to hear.

• "Over the past five years, more than 150,000 elephants have been killed for their ivory."

• "If the (ivory) trade continues, the African elephant could become extinct within 15 years."

• "An elephant is killed approximately every 15 minutes."

Please, take time to think about these numbers. Without vibrant conservation efforts, humans could erase the largest land mammal from earth, and what does that say about us as a race? Let's prove that humans care.

The film was released November 4, 2016.

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Sources Used:

The Ivory Game. Directed by Richard Ladkani and Kief Davidson. Netflix, 4 Nov. 2016, https://www.netflix.com/watch/80117533?trackId=13752289&tctx=0%2C0%2Cfbeceac110a83a0600bf7b102a8db5a1491f062b%3A872449aa309a0bc124d7c91c58890deb761cfbf6%2C%2C.