DER LETZTE RAUBZUG

Every 15 minutes an elephant is killed. Extinction is no longer a by-product of poaching, it is the very purpose. GAMBLING ON EXTINCTION is a powerful documentary that takes you from the killing fields in Kenya and South Africa to the trading hubs of Vietnam and China with undercover investigators, rangers, ex-poachers, conservationists and buyers. Director Jakob Kneser exposes the lethal mechanisms of the global trade, the terrorist connection, explains who the customers are, what generates demand, and what can be done to stop the slaughter. A story about greed and a merciless battle over a limited resource: Wild elephants and rhinos. It is in fact the dark side of globalization: Ivory and rhino horn have become lucrative commodities.

Trailer

Director

JAKOB KNESER has been working as a director, author and editor since 2002. Also active as a lecturer for Journalism at the Humboldt University Berlin, a selection of his films includes: CUBAN ROOTS (music doc, 2002), the TV documentaries THE WORLD WITHOUT PETROLEUM (2004), THE HISTORY OF SURGERY (2005), THE SECRETS OF TIME TRAVEL (2006), END OF A LEGEND (2006), COLLECTIVE MINDS (2009), FOOD FOR THOUGHT (2010), THE ARCTIC (2012), and GAMBLING ON EXTINCTION (2014).

Jakob Kneser photos © a&o buero