Animal-lover Tom Hardy is hoping to help stop poaching in South Africa, Botswana, and Tanzania – or at least raise awareness of the horrific poaching taking place – via Poaching Wars with Tom Hardy. Executive produced and hosted by Hardy, Poaching Wars with Tom Hardy is a new ITV documentary series directed by Ewen Thompson.
“The story of the impact of wildlife poaching in Africa is one that is important to tell now more than ever. Tom Hardy’s palpable concern and commitment to shedding light on what is happening and what the answers might be allow him to bring this reality home in a way that we believe will resonate powerfully with our audience,” stated Jo Clinton-Davis, ITV Controller of Factual.
Dean Baker, Executive Producer of the film for Hardy, Son and Baker, added, “Hardy, Son and Baker are delighted to be working with ITV on this project. Tom’s goal is to bring the senseless slaughter of endangered wildlife in Africa to the attention of the masses. This documentary is the first step of that process. We both hope it finds an engaged, empathetic audience who can be motivated to action.”
The Details [Courtesy of ITV]:
Tom has always loved animals. When he became aware of the truly cataclysmic damage being inflicted on Africa by a ruthless and voracious poaching industry, the BAFTA award-winning actor (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) made it a personal commitment to travel to South Africa, Botswana, and Tanzania and uncover the hard truths about why poaching has reached these crisis levels. And see for himself what can be done to stop the killing.
All over Sub-Saharan Africa, the poaching crisis is spreading like a plague. Cameroon, Chad, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have all seen large-scale elephant slaughter and throughout the rest of Africa, both rhino and elephant are being killed in alarming numbers, bringing both species to the brink of extinction.
On his trek across the continent, Tom meets those affected and involved on all sides of the industry, including the farmers who have lost livestock to poachers, plus key figures from organizations fighting back against poaching on the ground and in government.
The huge amounts of money involved means the cost is counted in both human and animal lives. And Tom learns at close range about the dangerous people involved in poaching and why they are prepared to kill and die for the wealth there, unprotected, for the taking.
