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PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRISTIAN RODRIGUEZ
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By Rachael Bale, ANIMALS Executive Editor
Four years ago, I celebrated one of the most memorable birthdays I’ve ever had. Somewhere in Madidi National Park, in the Bolivian Amazon, after the sun went down and the mosquitoes came out, I sat around a campfire with a group of park rangers, an interpreter, and a filmmaker as they poured me cup after cup of cheap singani, Bolivia’s national liquor. They sang me Happy Birthday in both English and Spanish, and then we all jumped in the Madidi River.
Then they said to be careful of the caimans.
I was there to report a story about jaguar poaching. The filmmaker, my friend Elizabeth Unger, had told me about the rising illegal trade in jaguar teeth, which are often smuggled to China. I wanted to find out about it for myself. The park’s director, Marcos Uzquiano (pictured, above left), is at the forefront of efforts to stop the poaching, so he took us into the forest on patrol.
We didn’t see any jaguars or poachers (or caimans!), but I started to get a sense of what a massive challenge he and his small, under-resourced team are up against. Their dedication—and the scale of the emerging problem—was stunning.
My story published in National Geographic in 2017, but Liz, a Nat Geo Explorer, continued working on her documentary, investigating the trade and tracking the major players. From Bolivia to China to the U.S., back and forth, over and over, for four more years, she kept at it. And now, it’s officially complete: Tigre Gente premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival tomorrow. Liz made me promise not to watch it until this weekend at her launch party, so I’m holding out a few days longer. You can buy a ticket to stream it at home, starting tomorrow.
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