"I CAN WATCH A TUSKER ELEPHANT FOR HOURS. It's such a majestic animal to see in the forest," Jose Louies, CEO of the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), tells me. "When you see that same animal dead, its head cut open for the tusks, it's horrific."
Louies and his team's work to combat the killing of Asian elephants is the subject of Poacher, a major new Amazon Original Series. Based on the real-life events of Operation Shikar, the series covers the sprawling investigation that took place between 2015-2017 into elephant poaching in the southern state of Kerala, which led to 72 arrests across India, including elephant poachers, government officials, carvers and high-end ivory art dealers.
"It's the largest ever elephant-poaching case in India," says Louies, who was chief of enforcement (Wildlife Crime Control) at the time. Operation Shikar originally confirmed gangs had killed around 28 tuskers, but the actual number is thought to be far higher. "I don't say hundreds because I don't have evidence, but I don't rule it out," Louies says.
"This gang was operational for 10 years. In the three years we covered, they easily brought down 50 elephant," he continues. "Twenty-eight guns were seized and around a dozen people were poaching on the ground, which puts the number [of elephants killed] much higher. Poaching wasn't limited to the area we investigated; Kerala connects with Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and the poachers travelled to these areas, so the number could be much more. It was a challenging investigation. We never thought it would become a TV show."
Louies, the key protagonist in Poacher, is enjoying the spotlight - not for himself, but for the issue of poaching. "When you talk about the ivory trade, people think of the African ivory trade," he says. "But it happens in India."
Esta historia es de la edición May 2024 de BBC Wildlife.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición May 2024 de BBC Wildlife.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Does cloning create identical copies?
EMBRYOS ARE MADE OF STEM CELLS that divide to give rise to different types of cells, everything from skin to brain cells. Scientists once thought that reproductive cloning creating a genetically identical copy of an individual organism - would be impossible without using stem cells and that the path leading to mature 'differentiated' cells was irreversible. But clawed frogs proved them wrong...
Tool-using animals
Our pick of 10 species that exhibit this special skill
Mission Blue
Sylvia Earle has dedicated her life to marine conservation; she tells BBC Wildlife why protecting the ocean is essential to all life on earth
RESHARK
The world's first shark rewilding initiative has seen zebra sharks released in the waters of Indonesia's Raja Ampat archipelago
ON DECK
Ferries aren't just for transport, they're also perfect vessels for conservation
IT'S A COLOURFUL LIFE
Delve into the unique and complex biology of the clownfish, arguably the world's most famous fish
BAHAMAS BENEATH
A dive into the waters of this famous island nation with the creatures that call it home
"To save the reef, we need everybody involved"
Indigenous peoples may hold the key to protecting the Great Barrier Reef
SPINNING AROUND
Going around in circles proves fruitful for this filter-feeder
BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
On balmy evenings, amorous beetles put on a spellbinding show in North American forests