Original subtitles

[birds tweeting, trees rustling]

[gun being loaded]

[sinister music]

[Pieter] You can just see his head sticking out there.

Wait for him to stand up.

[heavy breathing]

Then I want you to shoot him, please.

[lion lows faintly]

Can you see him? Take the shot.

[gunshot]

[lion roars]

[men speaking in foreign language]

[gun being cocked, fired]

[Pieter] He's gone now.

[man laughs]

[camera shutter clicking]

[Joni] My name is Joni Rubin.

But my friends just call me Rogue.

I was born in South Africa.

And even though we left when I was young,

Africa has always felt like home.

Like so many people, I've watched in helpless disbelief

as elephants became critically endangered.

Now the rhino are on the verge of extinction,

with only 30,000 remaining in the wild.

And white rhinos even have their own personal security guards.

But I had no idea

that there are only 20,000 lions in the wild.

How could I not know this?

[reporter] Conservation group LionAid says that lions have disappeared

from 25 African countries in recent years.

Wildlife NGO Panthera surveyed 11 West African nations

where lions should be expected.

However, lions or their tracks were spotted in just five.

[reporter 2] Conservationists warn there'll be no lions left in Kenya,

unless urgent action is taken.

[Joni] This was horrifying.

I knew I had to do something.

If we can't save and protect the most iconic animal on the planet,

what hope does any species have?

They say there's one defining moment in everyone's lives,

and this is the story of mine.

[dramatic music]

[Joni] I know what you're thinking.

Who the hell is this guy?

[gunshot]

He's a professional trophy hunter,

and he is paid to find the strongest, best looking animals

-for people to kill. -[gunshots continues]

And in my journey to help save wild lions,

I learnt I needed to get close to men like these.

Their secretive world is playing a key role in the lions' extinction.

But I knew they would never accept a liberal, vegetarian girl.

So I did what any young, rational woman would do.

I created a fake identity and decided to go undercover.

I would be alone, in deepest, darkest Africa,

with men who killed for pleasure.

How did I pull this off?

I researched the best way to create a new persona.

I would create an identity

as a pro big-game hunting photographer and videographer intern.

The role would allow me to film openly,

without making people suspicious.

So how does one create a fake identity

to travel to Africa and save lions?

First thing I needed was a new name.

I kept my first name, but changed my middle and last name.

That way, if I accidentally ran into someone who knew me

when I was using my new identity, no alarm bells would ring.

Next, I set up new social media accounts.

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In case someone searched me on the Internet.

I added friends and joined groups that would suit my new persona.

And in no time, these new people were accepting my friend requests.

The final thing I did was create a fake website,

promoting my photographic and film skills.

Soon, I felt confident that if someone searched me on the Internet,

they would believe I was who I said I was.

So I created a list

of everyone who represented themselves as trophy lion huntsmen,

and I emailed all of them.

But all I got was rejections,

and I wanted to give up.

And then, when a hunter called Pieter Kriel emailed me

and invited me on a hunt,

I accepted.

[dramatic percussive music]

[Joni] Okay, I got a little ahead of myself.

Let's start from the beginning.

Like a lot of millennials, I get my news on social media.

So, when I saw a post saying that lions were on the verge of extinction,

I was left in disbelief.

But when I couldn't find the reason why,

I realized the only way I would find the truth

was to go back to Africa.

[police sirens, cars honking]

Africa's a very poor continent

with a corrupt and misguided political system.

The enormous growth of the human population

has caused habitat encroachment on animals,

resulting in mass extinctions.

Africa is crazy.

While the then-President of Zimbabwe condemned trophy hunters,

he also feasted on baby elephant and lion for his birthday.

And Asia has substituted in their medicines and soups

lion bones for tiger bones

due to the fact that almost no tigers are left in the world.

But none of this answered my question.

Why is it not public knowledge that lions are so endangered?

And what is the reason for their imminent demise?

I decided to track down the prominent South African artist and socialite,

whose social media post was the one that had sparked my initial curiosity.

His name was Conor McCreedy.

He claimed to be conserving the lion through his foundation P.A.L,

or Protecting African Lions.

[people chanting] Save our lions!

P.A.L. was established to protect both wild and captive-raised lions,

which are lions born and bred in captivity.

As the founder, I hoped he could offer some insights

as to why lions are becoming extinct.

The lion will become extinct if we do not act.

We need to protect Africa's most majestic animal.

I set up P.A.L. because, well, it's very simple,

I wanted to protect and preserve the king of the African jungle,

which is the King of the Jungle, the lion.

Are you in, or are you out?

That's... that was a bit off.

[Joni] I wanted to help Conor.

You're either in or you're out.

[Joni] So I tried filming some promotional work for him.

Are you in or are you out?

I mean, look, I wouldn't be the expert to tell you what it is,

but I think it's wrong,

and it's... it's-- it's-- it needs to be stopped.

[Joni] The more I listened to Conor talk,

the more concerned I became about his lack of knowledge on the subject.

Well, it depends. I mean, it's not going to be long

if we continue at this rate.

Um, not at all, I mean, it's, uh...

they're declining at a rapid rate.

[Joni] His inability to answer my questions about lions

made me concerned about his true motivations.

One of my greatest inspirations and mentors throughout my life

was Nelson Mandela.

And standing by my side throughout this initiative,

and a part of the team, is his grandson Ndaba Mandela.

Flanking me with Rohan Marley,

to go on this journey and protect the African lion.

Fuck, I don't know.

It's a bit deep, that one.

Little bit of goosebumps there, you know.

[Conor] Espresso time.

[Joni] I could see Conor was not going to save the lions.

He was an example of the consequences

of relying on social media for news.

I needed to get out of town

and meet people who were taking real conservation action.

To understand why lions are becoming extinct,

and how to save them.

[lion lowing]

[children chatting and laughing]

I could see why it's hard to know that lions are endangered,

when they were all around me.

Hi!

[Joni] How many lions do you breed on the property?

Here in the park, uh...

You can kneel down there and touch her. She needs to know you're there.

This is amazing!

Many parks offered incredible opportunities

to get up close and personal with captive-bred lions.

You could pay to cuddle a cub.

This way! Let's go, boys! Come on, yeah, let's go.

[guests laughing]

You could even pay for a one-on-one interaction.

[Joni gasps]

Which I don't recommend.

Mental!

I got my ass bitten!

For real!

But all these lions are captive-bred lions.

They are not the same as wild lions,

and they are not endangered.

So a captive-bred lion is any lion that was born in captivity,

in some sort of pen, usually quite a small pen.

[Joni] Paul Funston is from an organization called Panthera.

which is the only organization on the planet

dedicated to conserving the world's wild cats.

[Paul] What you would see in a captive environment

is a lot of inbreeding, close breeding,

the natural processes which maintain genetic diversity

in a population are generally not there.

We suspect that they are largely genetically compromised

as a whole.

[Joni] So if captive-bred lions are genetically compromised,

how can they be integrated into the wild

to replenish and save the dwindling lion population?

There's not anybody reintroducing any lions back in the wild, come on.

Let's not fool ourselves.

If there were, I would know about it.

[Joni] Marnus Roodbol has spent over two decades

in lion research and conservation.

His organization helps farmers by setting up motion detector lights,

to frighten the lions away from attacking their livestock.

[Marnus] I was very blessed to get a job in Namibia

working with rehabitation.

"Rehabitation" of specific species.

So I worked at a place for three years,

um, trying to reintroduce-- "reintroduce" again,

hand-raised lions.

But I realized, it's a money-making scheme.

It's just to make money fast, and they exploit animals.

[Joni] All the captive-bred lions we have seen

will ultimately be sold to hunters

to be killed in canned hunts,

which are hunts in an enclosed space.

[Chris] Lions are wild animals, they should be left in the wild.

And we should be protecting wild lions.

[Joni] Although canned hunting is a controversial practice,

it is the wild lions who are facing extinction.

I realized nothing I had seen, was helping the wild lion be sustained.

[Paul] I think we should be very concerned about wild lions.

Far more so than I think the world has actually taken note of.

From the estimates that are available,

we've seen an 85% decline of wild lions in the last 21 years.

Without a shadow of a doubt,

the greatest predator of the wild lion is human beings.

[Joni] The greatest causes of wild lion extinction are...

human encroachment, the bush meat trade,

the growing lion bone demand,

trophy hunters.

So even though hunters are not the only threat,

I learnt the smoke screen they create

clouds our view, so we do not know that lions are endangered.

And that's what makes them the greatest threat.

[Debby] Hunting is obviously a very controversial subject.

On a personal basis, I totally disagree with hunting.

However, I do totally understand the need for hunting

where there is a financial need.

Realistically, unless something has a value, it's not going to be protected.

And hunting has done that, historically, for wildlife.

It has given wildlife a value.

[Joni] And this is the central argument

of the trophy hunting industry.

How do you justify what you have done?

Well, I justify it in the name of conservation.

I justify it in a belief system and sustainable use.

It is disingenuous to suggest this is anything other than

a conservation initiative to maximize revenue

for the conservation of the species.

[Joni] They believe that by hunting animals,

they're giving them an economic value

that benefits the whole country.

And therefore shows the survival of the species.

Or as a hunter says, "If it pays, it stays."

Hunters have a very special relationship with the animals they pursue.

Only hunters know the hunting relationship.

Hunting is a small, vociferous minority

and the money from hunting stays in that hunting business.

It doesn't get spread through the economy.

[Joni] I was totally confused.

The hunters were also claiming to be conservationists,

and their arguments on face value were quite valid.

[Chris] Isn't it sad?

The only person who's speaking out exclusively in favor of lions

can only type with one finger.

[Joni] I didn't know who to believe.

But Chris stood out as a knowledgeable person I could trust.

[Joni] I did want to save the lions.

But to understand why and how

trophy hunters are driving lions to extinction,

I needed unfiltered access to them and their world.

Remember my fake identity?

Joni Michelle Kiser.

Video and photographic hunting intern.

[Pieter] Take your finger off the trigger,

disengage,

now engage.

Lean forward slightly into the shot, there you go.

[gunshot]

[Joni] I didn't expect it to sound like that.

[Pieter] Easy as that.

Now you just need to hit a target that's moving at 100 miles an hour.

[Pieter] I have been hunting professionally. This is my 17th year.

We grew up hunting.

Many years ago, we lived in Rhodesia, which today is Zimbabwe.

My father was a great outdoorsman.

He liked to go hunting,

and the love of hunting was installed by him.

And when we moved to South Africa, we continued to hunt.

And to this day, all three of us brothers,

we just passionately love to go hunting.

As and when we can.

By and large most hunters who come out

are hunters who would like to go for plains game

as a starter.

For the dangerous game,

that would be the big five,

rhino,

Cape buffalo,

elephant, lion, and leopard.

And one of the more dangerous animals

would be the hippo.

Of the six, I've done all six.

[two gunshots]

[Joni] I was invited into a covert world

I would get to know all too well.

[gunshot]

They hunted and killed dinner that night

and took it to the skinning shed.

[sinister music]

[indistinct chatter]

I didn't know how to act.

I was completely isolated,

and death was all around me.

[Joni whispering] I moved everything across...

I was really worried about what I'd got myself into.

[birds tweeting]

After a sleepless night,

I arrived at breakfast to meet my first clients

and our hunting chef.

Salad, scrambled eggs, curried vegetables,

cheese grillers, bacon, bread.

[Anton] I think my best speciality would be, uh,

is zebra fillet.

And the zebra lasagna that we make,

that's of a really good standard, and the people normally like it a lot.

[John] The accommodation here is good.

The people are friendly, very nice.

And the food was fantastic.

[Joni] Our patrons were from Singapore,

but most trophy clients come from the USA and Europe.

Before we hunted, we ventured into town to collect supplies.

42% of Americans live in houses with guns.

But until now, I had never held one.

Let alone been in a hunting store.

When you approach the scope,

you will then go forward

until you get the perfect round or full-view picture of the scalp.

If you had done this and you would fire,

that would normally give you what they call a half-moon or a cut

on your forehead.

So you would just keep that in that position

and then obviously fire from there.

[Joni] How many people come to shoot big game here?

Like how many people want big rifles?

Thousands, yeah, thousands in South Africa.

We get a lot of overseas hunters

coming to South Africa especially for shooting large game, dangerous game.

[Joni] A lot of Americans?

Americans...

From what I understand, a lot of Spanish people.

Spanish people really love hunting in South Africa.

Portuguese as well.

[sales associate] A little bit here, there you go.

Yeah, that one there, that would be a lot heavier,

at the end of the day, yeah.

But it doesn't, I gotta just look through the little bit at the front, right?

[Pieter] Safety on first.

Safety--

First. Always.

-Yeah, okay. -Always.

Alright, when you're ready, then you can push it forward.

Okay.

Okay, take your finger away.

Yeah.

Now push it forward, then put your finger on the trigger.

Otherwise, both go off at the same time.

You don't want that.

[Joni] Knowing that these men paid tens of thousands of dollars for the hunt,

I presumed they would be experienced marksmen.

-[Pieter and John chat indistinctly] -I had a vision of Clint Eastwood

rocking up on a horse for target practice.

But the reality was very different.

[gunshot]

[gunshot]

[John] Left.

[Joni] The men encouraged me to try to shoot a rifle.

[gunshot]

To my total amazement, I was a pretty decent shot.

-Not too bad. -Not too shabby.

But I preferred standing behind my camera.

And I carried a spare camera that I gave to locals to film me.

I loved seeing what they had filmed every night.

Everyone bought into the idea I was a young trophy intern.

And even though I was pretty convincing,

I was always afraid of being found out.

After all, I was alone every day in the African bush,

with men and guns.

Pieter was always testing me.

Making sure I was able to hold my own

before I was allowed on one of his lion hunts.

Our client's first target was a blesbok

on a wide open terrain

with nowhere for the animal to hide.

[gunshot]

[overlapping chatter]

[Pieter] Good shot.

He's going down, he's going down.

Yep, he's going down.

[Pieter humming "The Blue Danube"]

It's going down.

It's down.

[Joni] I would later learn that sitting on a truck shooting

was legal, but against hunting ethics.

It's gone over just above the haunch or just through the haunch.

It's a perfect, perfect shot.

Yes, it's my first kill.

[Joni] How do you feel?

I feel good.

-[Joni] You feel good? -Finally I got one.

The Singapore dudes had a grocery list

of animals they wanted to kill.

And Pieter made more money with every kill.

One, two, three, up!

[somber music playing]

[Joni] You can't wait to shoot one too?

Yeah.

[indistinct chatter]

[Joni] I had never seen animals killed before.

[Pieter] I have never seen such a shot, that's how good it is.

[laughter]

[Joni] But if I blocked the hunting part from my mind,

I realized how much I loved the experience of living in the African bush.

[epic orchestral music]

Waking up at five a.m. every morning and watching the sunrise in Africa

was everything I dreamed it would be.

The trip so far has been good, nice.

I just hope that I will be able to get... find a zebra today.

I'm hoping my brother can get his birthday present.

His zebra.

And I think the zebra is going to be a really good gift.

Actually, I'm gonna shoot it for him.

[Joni] We set off early that morning to hunt a zebra.

But on route, our guide caught sight of an impressive kudu

with magnificent horns.

[Pieter] Down by the neck, you see that white?

[Pieter] You can take the shot.

[gunshot]

[John] I think you got it.

-[overlapping chatter] -[Wayne] Yeah, yeah, yeah, you got it.

[guide] He's down.

[guide] Do you wanna take the death shot?

I wanna finish him off, get it over and done with.

-[Joni] Yes. -[guide] Do you want to do it?

Let's go ahead and shoot it.

[Joni] Trophy hunters try not to shoot an animal in the head

because it ruins their trophy.

That means animals are often left to die slowly.

[gunshot]

Well done, young man.

This is a once in a lifetime trophy.

Good, let's see your hand.

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

I'm proud of my son.

He's got the one he has come here for.

He has always wanted to shoot a kudu.

And he's got it.

[Joni] But our hunting safari wasn't over yet.

We had a few more days and still needed to find a zebra

to complete all the animals they wanted to kill.

And of course, we did.

[gunshot]

Pieter made sure that his clients killed all the animals on their list.

Our last stop was the taxidermist.

So we do the tanning, this is the tanning section over here.

It was time for big decisions.

How they would stuff and mount their kills,

to show off back home.

That's the real skull of the animal, yep.

We bleach them, we treat them,

so they stay nice and white like that always.

Everything is done above board with the necessary hunting permits,

approval from nature conservation, so--

[Joni] So these are all wild lions?

These are wild lions, they are not canned lions.

There's no little fences or anything.

Like, they're free roaming. We don't see anything wrong with that.

I don't think into Singapore at the moment.

Australia, they don't allow importation of lion trophies at all.

They've banned it completely.

[Joni whispering] Is that a full grown elephant?

How much is that elephant?

-The elephant? -Yeah.

I think that one was $50,000.

Oh, really?

Not sure what the hunting costs are involved in the trophy.

We don't really deal with that side.

-[Joni] Right, you just fill it. -So this is just the taxidermy part of it.

[Joni] Hunters publicize that in one year,

19 thousand trophies contributed $426 million

to African hunting conservation

and 53,000 jobs.

But economists say, we have no real proof

that any of the money goes to actual conservation.

What we do know is tourism brings in $17 billion a year.

But no tourists will come to an Africa without animals.

[dog barking]

It was hard to see where the so-called conservation money was actually going.

[dramatic music plays]

[Debby] If trophy hunting had to

go for the oldest, the lamest, the sickest of the animals,

then I wouldn't have a problem with it at all.

It would just be speeding up a natural process.

But they don't.

Trophy hunting wants the biggest, the best, the strongest,

and normally in a hunting situation these days

with the high powered rifles, weapons, etcetera, it's not a fair fight.

So you're going in, you're taking out the strongest,

and we are slowly weakening the gene pool.

[Marnus] People that is coming out here to hunt

is people that's bored.

I found that people do the weirdest things when they're bored.

Or when they have just too much money.

So everybody tries to fill their need,

or they're trying to do this, or they wanna do that,

but it's a sign that they-- they're bored,

they have too much money,

and it's a massive emptiness

they're trying to fill.

[Joni] Was Marnus right?

Are people hunting because they're bored?

I was excited when Pieter called again

and invited me on another hunt,

proving he trusted me.

And my skills were improving.

[Joni] Gimme a thumbs up, boys.

Interning for Pieter, I had learnt

trophy photos are not like traditional photos.

[Pieter] We have to do this one really quick.

The animal had to be cleaned

as the clients did not want to see any blood on their trophy photos.

The presentation of the animal is also very important.

Propping it up.

Making it look life-like and sleek.

And the most important element of the photo

was, of course, the hunter's position.

The hunters usually posed behind the animal

in a dominant fashion.

Requiring the photographer to get as low to the ground as possible,

to ensure they look like the perfect hero.

I also learned trophy hunters were usually white men,

and any other people in the photo,

such as women, children or other nationalities,

take a less dominant role.

As part of maintaining my alias,

I created a new Instagram account.

And I was regularly updating it

with the trophy hunting photos I was taking.

What I didn't expect

was the abuse I started to receive from so-called anti-hunters.

This wasn't my real Instagram,

but it was hard not to take the comments personally.

"It would be great watching you turn into a fancy meal for the big cats."

"How about getting your kids killed the same way?"

"Fuck you, bitch."

"And I really, really hope you're going to die soon."

How is it that anyone believes

intimidation, bullying and death threats can create positive change?

I knew that death threats to hunters

wasn't going to save the lion.

So I continued with my covert mission

to find out what would save them.

By going along on another hunt with Pieter.

Maybe, if I proved myself one more time,

he would take me on a lion hunt.

So en route at the moment to meet the clients, Ralph and Tini.

Wish me luck.

Ralph was an experienced hunter from Europe.

And the game he was going for was much bigger.

[tense music playing]

[indistinct chatter]

[gunshot]

[gunshot]

Ralph just fired another shot.

[Pieter] Stay away from the feet at all times.

[Pieter] Okay, now everybody, move out of the side.

We're just going to give him a finishing shot.

Ralph, you need to give him one more shot.

Shoot him right there.

[indistinct chatter]

Pick the rifle up, something like that.

-Like this, yeah? -Yes, yes.

[gunshot]

Perfect position.

[giraffe moans]

[sad piano music plays]

So this skin, Ralph, you start in the passage.

Then you run it down the passage.

You go left up the stairs, to the top story.

[Pieter] He took a great shot,

and giraffe's now going to Germany.

[Joni] But honestly, I didn't know if I had it in me

to continue with this ruse.

The giraffe is one of the most graceful animals in the jungle.

But what many people do not know

is that a giraffe's kick can decapitate a lion.

Lions are far more vulnerable than people imagine.

[Debby] A lion is an iconic symbol of Africa.

And for some reason, there is this misguided belief

that you are not a man until you've shot a lion.

[Jack] This will be my sixth safari in Africa.

I hunt because I like the hunt.

Uh, I enjoy it.

When I was a small boy growing up in Iowa,

I'd read all the outdoor magazines

and would basically dream of hunting in Africa.

I think by and large, the largest number of hunters

that I've guided on lion hunts have been from the USA.

I love hunting because the exercise, the variety,

the challenges, the different species, and beating them in their own habitat.

[Pieter] Are you going to shoot from the truck or from the stakes?

-If possible from the truck, I will. -[Pieter] Then we shoot from the truck.

[gunshot]

[David] I started hunting at 15.

I was always a fisherman,

but my uncle gave me a shotgun for Christmas

and it created a monster.

[chuckles] I don't fish much anymore.

What is this need behind hunting?

Why do American men feel that they have to shoot a lion

to feel-- it's a rite of passage, I presume, I don't know.

To feel like they are actually worth something in this life.

[Pieter] Part of the American culture that is the same as South African

would be the love of hunting.

Which is transferred from father to son, father to daughters.

And in many cases, we even have lady hunters

from the USA that really love to come out here and hunt.

And I found them to be extremely good hunters and quite good shots also.

Ready for your first African animal?

Yes.

Feeling good?

[Joni] My alias had taken off.

I was now being asked to work with different professional hunters.

My latest safari was with a new hunter

and a father-daughter duo.

Hi, my name is Rachel. I am here on my first Africa hunt,

which is pretty darn amazing.

Um, I'm with my dad.

I didn't know that was a lion!

What did you think it was?

I didn't know!

You're freakin' hilarious.

[Bob] This time I get to bring my daughter,

which is a very good privilege for me to have her here with me.

Oh, I'm super excited.

I waited two years to come here, so I am super excited.

-[gunshot] -[guide] Was very close, you did good.

I am going for, hopefully nyala, maybe impala

or springbok today.

We'll see what, you know, happens.

-But we'll see what we get there. -[chuckling]

I think after today's over, I think Rachel will have a kudu on the ground.

[guide] You never know.

[gunshot]

[guide] Wow!

[Bob] Whoa!

[guide] You got it.

That was quite a shot and a half.

Now you're called Boomer.

[Rachel] Three springbok in one day, on foot.

Apparently that's the hardest thing to do, and it's impossible.

We did it!

[Joni] It was a new day.

And we were en route to Bob's hunt

when we took a small detour.

[lion yowls]

[Rachel] I want one.

[Rachel giggles]

[Joni] What did you say?

I said, "I want one."

Hey, cutie.

[Bob] The reason I'm hunting a lion today

is I got word that there was a problem cat in the area,

that must've traveled south from Botswana,

across river into this area.

So we're going to go after this cat,

hopefully we can locate him

and take him out.

Even though he's a magnificent animal,

but some of these problem cats have to be taken out

in order to provide safety for the people in the area.

[Joni] If a lion was attacking a village,

I think they'd have enough expert hunters in Africa

to not need the help of an American dad.

This was the most important hunt I'd been on so far.

I'm a little nervous for this today.

Just a little bit, y'know.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh, boy.

-[Rachel] I thought it was, "Oh, my." -Oh my.

[Rachel] I'm not too worried.

There's gonna be three guys with lots of ammunition,

so I think we'll be okay.

[Joni] Does the lion have a chance?

The lion does not have a chance. We're gonna find it.

My dad's gonna get his trophy.

Just like I have.

[Bob] Now as we keep driving, I think I get a little more nervous,

but I guess once we do cut a fresh track,

we get off, we get our guns, and get on pursuit.

That's-- I think that's when adrenaline's gonna start kicking in.

[Bob] We just spotted a track of one of the lions.

They think the cat might've ventured in this direction.

[Joni] I was learning, the hunt is not just about the trophy,

it is about the whole narrative experience.

So we found ourselves crawling on the ground.

[Joni] Tracking pawprints.

[man speaking native language]

Running through the dense brush.

All with the aim of finding and heroically killing the lion.

We're just looking for the track right now.

Everybody fanned out.

Trying to figure out the direction it went.

Nothing yet.

[Joni] But theatrics aside,

the threat was real.

[Joni whispering] It kinda just dawned on me that

there is something that can actually kill me.

Lions only act when provoked, and we were doing just that.

So in defending itself, it could brutally kill us.

We were just here and now we found an area where the cat had laid down.

The sand here is still warm.

So it's a good sign he's close.

But the tracker said he took off running, of course.

So... now let the game begin.

[dramatic percussive music]

[guide] Just wait, let him turn.

Shoot him in the shoulder, wait.

[guide] He's looking straight at us.

If you can, just put it on the shoulder, just to the right.

-Okay. -Great.

-[gunshot] -[lion roars]

[guide] Reload!

Shoot him again?

-[heavy breathing] -[lion growling]

[guide] Should he shoot him again?

[gunshot]

Reload.

[overlapping chatter]

Are you ready?

Don't shoot yet, just wait.

[indistinct chatter]

Put one in there, just put it in the center of his chest.

[gunshot]

Get another bullet in.

Just, that bit.

Drop it in this side.

Congratulations.

You nailed him.

That first shot was just off to the side, into the shoulder.

-You hit it. -That was awesome.

Holy buckets.

Oh, man.

Good job, Dad, good job.

Told you it was a lucky hat.

This is how you hunt the lion. This is the way to do it.

Track it down, and, uh,

wait for him to stand his ground,

and then the rest is history.

Look at the weight, just to lift this leg.

Unbelievable, look at this.

-He's got a nice mane. -[Rachel] Nice shot right there.

That was why he told me to put that one there.

Holy cow.

Woo.

Oh, boy, oh, boy.

[Rachel] Holy cow.

One, two, three!

[man speaking native language]

[guide] What do you think of lion hunting?

[Bob] I think it's awesome.

People just don't understand.

They have to be here.

They can't read a book or listen to what someone else says,

they have to actually come out here and do this.

Then they'll understand.

But until then, they just gotta keep their comments to their selves,

because like you said, it's a beautiful cat,

but it was a problem cat.

So we actually did two things,

we created a hunt,

offered money to the area with the trophy fees,

and also took out one of the problems,

and also, it makes me shake.

[all laugh]

-[guide] Cheers! -[Bob] Cheers!

-Another successful hunt. -Well done.

[Joni] The lion hunt was frightening,

and everyone's adrenaline was out of control.

But that's because we believe the narrative.

That the lion was the man-eating savage.

Unless provoked,

lions are graceful and timid.

And in 2015, it seemed the world finally started to realize

the lion was in danger, and man was the predator.

Worldwide outrage tonight over the death of Cecil the Lion.

Killed at the hands of an American dentist.

[reporter 2] In Zimbabwe, Cecil the Lion was as famous as Simba.

That is until this Minnesota dentist came along.

He claims his trophy killing of Cecil the Lion was legal.

But it's reigniting a fierce debate over big game hunting.

[Jimmy Kimmel] Why are you shooting a lion in the first place?

Is it that difficult for you to get an erection

that you need to kill things?

[reporter 3] Animal rights advocates hope the outrage at this dentist

will bring greater protection for the lions.

[Joni] The outrage over the death of Cecil

prompts the Obama administration to make it almost impossible

to import lion trophies into The United States.

[reporter 4] The Obama administration listed the lion as threatened,

and barred Americans from bringing them back as trophies.

[Joni] Americans are the greatest importer

of lion trophy parts and products in the world.

With 64% of lion trophy kills attributed to American hunters.

If the Obama ban now meant that trophy imports were illegal,

it would be game over for lion trophy hunters,

and my mission would've been serendipitously fulfilled.

I traveled to The United States

to attend an annual SCI convention in Las Vegas.

I wanted to understand where America really stood

on lion trophy importation.

I'm here in Vegas, going to SCI,

Safari Club International,

which is the biggest hunting convention in the world,

and I'm pretty nervous.

SCI, or Safari Club International,

is the largest organization of hunters in The United States.

[scooter horn honks]

It claims to have over 50,000 members,

and is dedicated to protecting their rights to hunt

and animal conservation worldwide.

If anyone would have answers,

I felt they would.

[Chris] Isn't that who you're looking for?

[Joni] I brought a friend undercover with me,

who fitted the stereotype of the classic American hunter.

Being white, middle-aged, American and male.

[Chris] Well, I wanted to go hunt lion.

Is that allowed, can we do that?

-[Joni] Well, can you start with-- -[Chris] Yeah, I don't even know.

[Joni] Oh, and then used it as bait?

[Chris] Oh, my God, there's a whole price list.

[Chris] I didn't realize how big of an industry hunting really is.

I didn't realize that you could actually go out and do that

and kill lions like that.

And you could-- What surprised me even more,

was that you kill a hippopotamus first to use as bait.

That scared the-- That's terrible.

I mean, it's terrible.

And then they have a menu of items of animals you can kill.

And here's the question,

is it illegal to do what they're doing or not?

No, it's not illegal.

[Joni] Despite misconceptions, it is legal to hunt lions.

But no trophy hunter will want to hunt lions

if they cannot bring their trophies home.

-[Chris] How are you? -[Greg] Good, how are you?

-I'm Joni. -[Greg] Hi, Joni, I'm Greg.

-I'm Chris. -[Greg] Nice to meet you.

[Joni] U.S. Fish & Wildlife are responsible for enforcing

the government's legislation on conservation.

I thought they could clarify the laws for me.

Um, so where are we standing for this year,

importation of lions from South Africa?

Okay, so it's fine again, as long as it's wild raised?

[Joni] I can bring a lion and an elephant?

Oh, yes, yes, you can.

Instead of Cecil's death stopping the importation of wild lion trophies,

it had the opposite effect.

And trophy hunters found a new smoke screen

so they could keep on killing wild lions.

[Chris Mercer] The hunting industry in America has thousands and thousands

of obscenely wealthy people.

And thousands and thousands

of influential and politically connected people.

I still hunt, I've always been a hunter.

It's something I've done for a long time.

I mean, hunting has been good to me.

It's kept me out of a lot of trouble I would've got into growing up.

[Chris Mercer] There's not the slightest doubt

that the hunting industry has set out

as a matter of strategy

to control its regulatory authorities.

[reporter] Donald Trump wins the presidency.

History has been made--

[Joni] In 2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the new President of The United States,

and the ban on lion trophy importation was overturned.

[reporter] Just days ago it was quietly announced

by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

that Americans will once again be allowed to hunt

and bring home the threatened species.

[Joni] I wanted to know why the ban was lifted,

and who was making these new decisions.

The President's son, Donald Trump Jr.,

personally vetted the position for the Director of Interior

which is Secretary Zinke.

[Joni] It is the Secretary of Interior

who is responsible for the management of conservation in The United States.

Well, I never thought, one, that I would be Secretary of Interior,

although it fits my personality really well.

Yeah.

Being the steward of our greatest treasures.

[Joni] President Trump initially appointed Ryan Zinke.

Zinke was a well-known hunter and supporter of trophy hunting.

In November 2017, one of the first things Zinke did

was announce the creation of

the International Wildlife Conservation Council,

made up of 16 board members, who advised the Secretary.

[reporter] President Donald Trump's new board on wildlife conservation

has certainly come under a lot of criticism.

The Administration dismantled

an existing wildlife trafficking council.

And now has been replaced by 16 individuals

that have no conservation experience.

They are mostly trophy hunters.

15 out of 16 have a connection to trophy hunting.

[Joni] The role of the I.W.C.C.

is to advise the Department of Interior

on trophy importation.

In 2019, Zinke resigned

and was replaced by David Bernhardt,

who's also an established trophy hunting advocate.

The question is whether the public will find out

just what this administration is up to right now.

The global authority on which animals are considered

threatened or endangered

is the IUCN.

or the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

[spokesperson] The IUCN red list

is the world's most comprehensive information source

on threatened species,

their status, and their links to livelihoods.

[Joni] The IUCN red list

classifies which animals are at high risk of global extinction.

Kind of like the Geneva Convention for wildlife.

Lions are currently listed as vulnerable.

Which means likely to become endangered.

But once listed as endangered,

it will likely be too late.

And if you dig deeper,

you will see the IUCN list of financial partners includes

Shell International Petroleum

and Nestlé Nespresso,

whose conservation reputations are often under attack.

Other such financial partners

include the U.S. Department of Interior.

So it appears the international body

who advises on which animals should not be hunted

are being influenced by committees made up of hunters

and organizations with other agendas.

In the wake of Cecil, I flew back to Johannesburg

to see how the African continent was dealing with the backlash.

I came across PHASA,

an organization who promotes themselves

as guardians of conservation.

[narrator] From the southern point of Africa

hails an association of conservationists.

Their ethics and traditions remain

to become the largest association of its kind in the world today.

[Joni] And this association

is the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa.

[indistinct chatter]

[Joni] PHASA was holding their annual convention

so I went undercover to hear what was being said.

This is a closed door conference.

Everybody inside the conference

are professional hunters.

This is their livelihood.

This is what they work for.

[Joni] The passing of Cecil brought lion trophy hunting

to the center of attention at PHASA.

[Joni] The professional hunters were consumed by him

and the domino effect he had created to legislation.

[Joni] The South African Predator Association was also in attendance.

[Joni] So the hunters' solution to lion extinction

was kill more and be nicer?

-[whistle blows] -[gunshots]

[Joni] But they did vote to ban canned lion hunting here.

However, Cecil was a wild lion,

and two years later, they overturned that vote as well.

It was business as usual.

Cecil's legacy made no real change for trophy hunters.

[soft piano music]

It was finally time.

Pieter invited me on a lion hunt.

[overlapping chatter]

His client Ralph had returned,

and it would be my last mission undercover.

[Pieter] We'll probably do a lot of walking.

And then once the tracks get fresh and fresher,

we'll start moving slower and slower.

We're all going to be nervous.

And I think the client is going to be equally nervous.

Until we finally get an opportunity of hunting him.

[tense music]

[tense music continues]

[music intensifies]

[Pieter] You can just see his head sticking out there.

It's a big black mane guy.

Okay, he's feeling safe now,

because he thinks we can't see him.

Wait for him to stand up.

Then I want you to shoot him, please.

Don't waste any time.

Okay, get him now.

Shall I shoot him? Take the shot?

[gunshot]

[men laughing]

[Pieter] Can you see the tail coming up?

[Joni] Yeah the tail is coming up.

Are you guys ready?

[gunshot]

Alright, he's gone now.

I'm moving in.

Yep, that's good.

Congrats.

Very good shooting.

That's the big one, yes sir.

Absolutely.

There's his black mane.

Overall, it's a big lion.

After this we can go home and drink a beer.

Or lots.

-Or lots. -Or lots.

[Joni] We just did the lion hunt and the lion didn't even roar.

This whole thing is a fucking farce.

The lion had no chance.

This is a... this wasn't a chase.

This was an execution.

It's possible to clean?

And put in a bit like,

with my arm straight, he looks still alive.

We can do that.

[Joni]I knew trophy hunting was a way of life for these people.

But I couldn't witness it anymore.

[Paul] What is the moral high ground?

Do we accept something just because it's economically viable,

it makes money,

we're sort kind of caught in a Catch-22 situation with it already.

Do we accept such an abomination?

Or do we say no?

We close it and we find the solutions.

You know, for when it is closed.

[Joni] What can these people do instead?

How can we offer them the same fulfillment?

Um, I would say being a walking safarist is a great way.

You know, go walk to your big five.

How cool is that? Go home and take photos.

It's half the price, you're supporting tourism,

you're bringing money into the country.

you're supporting the guides as well, that's doing this for a living.

You could say, "Dude, listen man, I walked into a lion,

and it was charging at us flat out, It was sick.

You see that little blur? Cause my camera was blurry,

cause I was shaking? That is a lion."

[Debby] We all need to do better to look after Africa's animals.

What is Africa without the wild animals?

That's Africa.

And I think we have to take serious cognizance of where we're sitting.

We are a generation

at a point in time

where our choices are going to affect the future.

And we are at that breaking edge.

Where if we don't do something, or we don't change it soon,

we're going to lose iconic species.

[Joni] There are now many worthy organizations trying to save lions

such as Marnus Roodbol Fund, the Lion Recovery Fund,

and Panthera.

[Paul] There are many many wild protected areas

in Africa where lions occur.

15 or 20 of them are really key areas.

They're key in that they're large,

they've got the right kind of habitat, they've got good prey potentially.

So it's about selecting these key parks,

and investing in them.

Not for two to three years, for 20 to 30 years,

and onwards.

That will save lions, and all the other wildlife that's in Africa.

We can do it.

[Joni] To me, the scientists at Panthera

have outlined the strongest and most viable conservation strategy.

Whereby if we help them fund and oversee a mere 20 parks a year,

we can save the wild lion.

If we had annual management budget,

of around about two to three million dollars per key protected area

we would do fine, to save lions forever.

[Joni] Africa's a poor continent,

without the resources to protect its wildlife on its own.

But we are all responsible for the future of lions

and have an obligation to save Simba, and the next Cecil.

Spain and France still allow the importation of lion trophies.

Germans turn a blind eye on importing endangered species.

The UK followed America's lead

and broke a pledge to stop importing lion trophies.

And the Coronavirus in Africa

means corruption and control is only getting worse.

Lions have never been in greater peril.

There are less than 20,000 lions remaining in the wild.

We all have to act now.

Even Pieter.

So I arranged to have a meeting with him.

I'm mic'ed up here.

Running through my little pipe here.

Hi!

Okay, so here's the thing.

You're killing six to ten lions a year.

So my concern is, there's 20,000 lions left in Africa.

Well it means we have to create more space for lions.

and we need to get them away from areas where there is human inhabitation.

What is the economic value of having a lion

if he's in a rural area,

comes out of the park,

and starts killing livestock?

It's more than an economic value.

We're talking about the fact that there's only 20,000.

You're talking about an animal being on the verge of extinction.

That means that in five years time there's going to be no lion.

No, you cannot say that at this point.

This is what science is saying.

No.

Let's cut to the chase here. It's scientifically proven at this point

that we have 20,000 lions left in the wild.

And since general conservation is not being affected by you,

you killing a lion, and the trophy fees are not helping.

What's helping, and what's bringing billions of dollars in is tourism.

To see the lions alive.

I could see the penny drop.

Pieter was realizing that I was not who I claimed to be.

Okay, where are you going with this?

I'm being really clear where I'm going with this.

There are 20,000 lions left in Africa.

There were six to ten lion hunts a year.

-You've said six to ten lion hunts a year. -Correct.

So you are being responsible for the demise of an animal.

[chuckles]

Ah yes, we hunt. That's what we do for a living.

I think we're done with this.

-You're done now? -Yes, absolutely.

-Okay. -Absolutely.

[Joni] Pieter, by his own admission,

is responsible for the death of 102 to 170 lions.

But he's not alone.

There are 1,200 professional hunters in Africa.

We do not know how many offer lion hunts.

But what we do know,

is that no amount of money will bring back the lion

once it's gone.

[gunshot]

[Pieter] He's gone now.

[Pieter laughing]

[somber music playing]