Rhino dollars

The daily slaughter of rhinos for their horn in Africa is now spreading to Europe and threatening the survival of the species. Conducted over two years, this gripping investigation dismantles the workings of a global business linked to organised crime.

On 7 March 2017, a rhinoceros was shot at Thoiry Zoo. This is the first time that this incident has affected Europe, while in Africa the massacre is a daily occurrence. Rhino horn, the trade in which has been banned for forty years, fetches astronomical prices on the black market. Traffickers target the Asian market, where the horn, like our fingernails, is believed to have anti-cancer and aphrodisiac properties. The epicentre of this carnage is in South Africa, where the majority of the species lives - 20,000 rhinos. At the rate of 1,000 animals killed each year, the rhino will be extinct within 20 years.

Horn of plenty
Filmed largely in South Africa and Asia, this documentary dismantles the workings of a global trade controlled by organised crime. The rhino massacre mobilises a chain of actors and accomplices from one end of the planet to the other: corrupt rangers or police officers, small-scale poachers from neighbouring Mozambique, African dealers, Asian traffickers, and even witch doctors who offer their protection in exchange for a small fee. For two years, the documentary team immersed itself in this trade, which is also fuelled by cynicism and poverty. "When I see a rhino, I see money," says an African "sniper" who earns the equivalent of a year's salary for each animal he kills. Because of its brutality and the amount of money it generates, this animal trafficking generates extreme reactions and initiatives: from NGOs using infiltration methods worthy of espionage to an army of rangers devoted to the rhino cause, not to mention this original man who dehides his animals and has accumulated a stock that would make his fortune... if he had the right to sell it. In the meantime, he lives in a bunker to protect himself from poachers. This gripping investigation into a disappearance that was foretold sometimes takes on the air of a thriller.

Documentary by Olivia Mokiejewski (France, 2018, 1h30mn) - Coproduction: ARTE France, TV Presse Productions, Yellow Fox Prod