The Last Animals

American photojournalist Kate Brooks, who has worked in various dangerous war zones, became aware of the trafficking in tusks and horns of endangered species—especially African rhinoceros and elephants—in connection with her attempts to uncover sources of financing behind contemporary conflicts. In her documentary, Brooks traces the links between the lucrative poaching business and its customers throughout the world while also emphasizing the efforts of activists to suppress the practice and save endangered species from extinction. She begins in the markets of Asia, where ivory bracelets and medicines prepared from ground rhino horns sell for high prices. She travels to Garamba National Park in the Congo, where rangers put their lives at risk warding off poachers even as other soldiers are complicit in the trade. She documents attempts to prosecute leaders of the poaching-and-trafficking cartels, and follows the work of Dr. Samuel Wasser of the University of Washington, who uses DNA from recovered elephant tusks to pinpoint where the animals were killed. Brooks also records desperate efforts to breed the few northern white rhinos in captivity—one at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and two in a Kenyan conservancy—to perpetuate the species, attempts that sadly fail. The Last Animals points to celebrities like Prince William and journalists such as Gretchen Peters, who have spoken out against wildlife trafficking, but the emphasis is placed on those who are working on the ground. A powerful documentary, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)