Rhino horn is the most valuable illegally traded wildlife product in the world, more expensive per pound than either gold or cocaine and much more valuable than elephant ivory. With as few as 25,000 wild rhinos left in Africa, conservationist and law enforcement fight a constant battle with criminal syndicates seeking to kill rhinos and sell their horns to wealthy consumers abroad, many in Asia.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has outlawed the sale of rhino horns and other wildlife parts across borders since it entered into force in 1975, but poaching syndicates and individuals with connections at wildlife preserves, airports, shipping companies, and even embassies have kept the trade thriving.

Most rhino horn products end up in East and Southeast Asia. Rhino horn is made of keratin, the same substance that makes up human hair and fingernails. However, in China and Vietnam, rhino horn is used in traditional medicines because it is believed to have miraculous properties, able to cure hangovers and cancer alike. Others use ground rhino horn as a party drug or aphrodisiac, or keep artifacts carved from rhino horn as status symbols. One village in Vietnam smuggled wildlife parts worth at least $43 million in 2015, including parts of 600 rhinos.

Recently, Jeremy Young and Kevin Hirten screened their film on this lethal trade, The Poachers Pipeline, at the Wilson Center as part of the DC Environmental Film Festival. We sat down with Young and Hirten to discuss the unseen actors in rhino trafficking syndicates and the important targets for tackling the global illegal wildlife trade.

CEF: Could you start by telling us a little about how you both became involved in the project? Why did you decide to work on rhino horn trafficking?

Kevin Hirten: We work for Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit and we do long-form investigative documentaries on topics ranging from human smuggling to financial crimes. We knew we wanted to do a story on wildlife trafficking and quickly found that rhino horn was interesting because it’s the most high profile of all the goods that can be smuggled. What I’ve heard is that if ivory is like cocaine, rhino horn is like black tar heroin.

Jeremy Young: Our film really tries to focus on the criminals that are at the fulcrum of the rhino horn trafficking epidemic. We really wanted to shine a spotlight on how these individuals work, how they evade law enforcement, and what tactics and techniques they use to move rhino horn from Africa to Asia.

Your film is unique in that it shines a light not only on the poacher in South Africa and the buyer in China or Vietnam, but also the usually invisible middle man. Can you explain what this chain looks like?

Y: There are five levels when it comes to trafficking.

At the beginning and end of the chain there are the level one, low-level poachers in the park and the level five final consumers. Level two are what we refer to as the local gang masters, who orchestrate the kill in the park and help provide weapons, financing, and transportation. Where it really starts to get into the serious criminal actions are level three and level four traffickers. Level three traffickers are mostly Asian nationals, often from China and Vietnam, but sometimes from other countries as well, who have the ability, the wherewithal, the money, the skill, and the influence to be able to move the product from Africa to Asia. It’s a complex supply chain.

The level four traffickers are based in the Far East. For example, we were able to focus on an individual based in Southeast China who is a level four trafficker with access to rhino horn locally, and they have contacts who are located at airports and are able to get stuff through customs. These are the individuals we wanted to focus on because there isn’t a lot out there that puts a spotlight on them.

H: We noticed that a lot of other documentaries start in the park, where there’s a battle going on between poachers and rangers, and then jump to the streets on Hanoi. How does the horn go from the park to the streets of Hanoi or Beijing or Hong Kong? Instead of jumping from level one to level five, we wanted to focus on the steps in between.

We used Chinese-speaking undercover reporters, as you have to use someone who can get into the pipeline. From what I’ve been told, there isn’t a single Chinese-speaking undercover law enforcement official in all of South Africa, so when we got there, it was kind of like shooting fish in a barrel. There was no expectation people would be reporting on it. People often ask, “How come they were so forthcoming?” And the answer is that they just haven’t been reported on before. If we could get more Chinese-speaking undercovers, I think we could really make a dent in some of these syndicates. 

Could you walk us through the investigation process as much as you are able to?

H: The process we go through is pretty rigorous. We spent weeks setting up the operation. We had to find a way in – we won’t get into how we got into the syndicate, but we did find an entry point. The first trafficker we meet in the documentary, Guan, didn’t even mention rhino horn for four meetings. So, every time we would go in, meet at a casino, come back, review the footage, and talk about strategy for the next meeting. It’s really a collaborative process, not just sending someone in blind.

What is your intended audience for the film and what do you hope they will get out of watching?

Y: When it comes to the role that investigative journalism and filmmaking can play in regards to wildlife trafficking and the plight of rhinos in particular, we have a very different raison d’etre than law enforcement or politicians. The best service that we can provide is to raise awareness about what’s happening and put this information out for the public to digest and understand the scope of the problem. We wanted to expose criminals that weren’t being investigated, that were operating without any law enforcement body holding them accountable for their illegal activities. Our audience is a global one, because Al Jazeera broadcasts all around the world, and our goal is to raise awareness about these issues so that in 10 or 20 years we have rhinos still in the wild in this world. 

We’re down to under 25,000 rhinos left in the world in the wild. In the last couple of weeks, there was an incident: Within a 24 hour period there were 17 rhinos killed around South Africa, in different parts of the country, whether through a coordinated attack by some kind of poaching syndicate or a coincidence. We tend not to believe in coincidences in our business. But that gives you a sense of the scope.

What is the most surprising thing you learned while working on this project?

Y: One of the things I constantly find surprising is how clever and crafty the individuals are with their techniques to move this product and evade law enforcement. One of the products that South Africa is well known for is biltong, a type of dried jerky served in strips. One of the traffickers told our undercover reporter that they’re using a new technique to smuggle rhino horn out of the country, basically involving cutting the horn in the same shape and size as biltong sticks. They have a contact who is a professional butcher and they basically slide the rhino horn into the middle of the pack of biltong and then seal it and slap a label and price tag on it so it gets through airports easily. This kind of dastardly cleverness gives you a sense of what we’re up against.

H: I’m still most surprised by just how tough the situation it is in Kruger – it’s a park the size of Massachusetts and they have just 400 rangers trying to police the whole thing. And I still cannot get over the fact that two or three rhinos die every single night there. It just breaks your heart, especially when you see these animals up close. The rhinos don’t deserve this kind of treatment. They’re born with these horns on them and they happen to be valuable and it’s just such a shame.

Recent campaigns in China have been quite successful in raising public awareness and curbing demand for certain wildlife products. Yet, China is still the top consumer of illegally trafficked wildlife. What needs to happen to stop the trade?

Y: What’s important to me is if people in very high levels in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore would really speak out about the fact that rhino horn doesn’t have medicinal value. It’s people with a significant amount of money who are consuming products like rhino horn and we need people in powerful positions to speak out against it, otherwise we aren’t going to see any trickle effect through Chinese communities. That’s why it was very important in our investigation to look at the role that embassies and diplomats play in this trade, and why and how they are using the diplomatic pouch to smuggle wildlife products.

H: Ultimately, it’s going to be really tough as long as demand is there. It’s like the drug trade. But the difference between the drug trade and the wildlife trade is that with drugs the supply is infinite and the demand is infinite. With wildlife, the supply is very much finite in the near term.

Watch more discussion with the filmmakers at the Wilson Center on Facebook.