India is currently thought to have around 29,000 wild elephants, especially in the biodiverse Western Ghats region, including Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It’s also the country home to more than half of the global population.

Although poaching, trafficking and trading of elephants and ivory in India is prohibited according to 1972’s Wildlife Protection Act, poaching has remained a constant threat. 

Today, around 20-25 elephants are lost to poaching each year. 

On this episode of Climate Connections, Emmy-award winning Canadian filmmaker Richie Mehta, who’s the director of Poacher - shares more about his dramatisation of the largest ever elephant poaching case in India. 

The eight-episode series was based on the real-life events of Operation Shikar, a sprawling investigation that took place between 2015 and 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.

Also on this episode, Rohit Singh, Director of Wildlife Enforcement and Zero Poaching, WWF-Singapore , who has first-hand experience coordinating law enforcement activities in India, weighs in on the challenges behind wildlife crime law enforcement. 

Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Voiced by: Audrey Siek
Photo credits: WWF-Singapore / Richie MehtaDrama sound effect credits: Richie Mehta / Amazon Prime
Music credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors