Yao Ming is most commonly referred to as the gentle giant of basketball but these days, instead of shooting hoops, the retired Houston Rockets star is involved in wildlife conservation. Saving Africa’s Giants with Yao Ming is a one-hour feature documentary on Discovery Channel that sheds light on the poaching epidemic of rhinos and elephants in Africa. Narrated by Edward Norton and in partnership with WildAid, Yao Ming traveled to Kariega Game Reserve, located at South Africa’s East Cape to document the plight of orphaned elephants and raise awareness about this global crisis.
What urged you to choose the protection of Africa’s giants as your advocacy?
It’s more of a lifestyle and also to try to reach more people to join us in this campaign to protect the wild animals in Africa. Many of you already know the mass number of elephants and rhinos being poached here in Africa because of ivory or the rhino horn. We all know that’s because people are buying the market. We try to show as many people as we can to persuade them, to convince them to stop buying that. Without the market generating the money, there’s no reason for poachers [to go] back there to hurt those animals.
The documentary is about saving Africa’s giants – how involved are you with conservation and environmental activism in your own country, China?
We have big conservation [efforts when it comes to panda bears], which is very famous in China. You mentioned the environment, of course that’s another big issue but I don’t know or have much knowledge on that. I’m sure there is a specialist and also other groups of people working on that. It’s definitely a national problem over here and that gets a lot of people’s attention. I would love to help if there is any way.
Can you tell us how you felt when you first saw slaughtered elephants and rhinos on your trip to Africa?
It was definitely a very sad image and also a very sad experience I had. Even talking about it right now, all of my memories from those flashbacks makes me feel sad about it. Honestly, after that, every time I see ivory or a horn, either from pictures, videos or the items itself, it makes me sad because I know there’s a body, there’s a carcass, there is a life being lost in Africa.
Have you asked your former fellow players in the NBA and other basketball players to support this cause?
Oh, yes. We have a lot of NBA players joining us, either retired players or still active players, such as Dikembe Mutombo, Joakim Noah from the Chicago Bulls, and Dwayne Wade, Jeremy Lin – they did a PSA supporting us by shooting a video, trying to persuade people to stop buying stuff.
What has been the highlights and low points of this documentary?
When we visited those orphaned elephants. That was such an enjoyable time. They are very cute, very polite, very smart animals, and there were different characters. Just like a bunch of kids sitting in a classroom, somehow.
But also, on the other side, the reason they become orphans and living in a conservation area is only because their mums are being poached, their family have been poached. They cannot survive in the wild and must be protected by this conservation staff. I’m so glad to see them living well there, but also, I hope when they grow up and return to nature, which they will, the threats are no longer there. That’s why we’re doing this.
What was the most memorable part about filming this program?
Well, actually there were a lot of great experiences, a mixture of good and bad. Like I just mentioned, we saw a lot of elephants that are orphans. That’s one example. Others, we saw a lot of animal remains and carcasses left behind by those poachers. Also, seeing a lot of wonderful people who are elephant specialists or rhino specialists or other animal specialists – they’re there, they make an effort to protect the animals from people. I feel very strong that we’re not alone there.
What progress have you seen ever since you started to promote your cause?
Since we launched this and after we’ve done this documentary film, people have asked us ‘What’s the story over there?’ and ‘what can we do for these animals?’. We always try to say, help us to spread the message, to tell your friends, tell all the people you know – as many people you know as possible. Of course, stop buying those products, which is the key message for us. We can kill the market there and stop the poachers from going back there.
In the documentary, there was a baby elephant whom you were rather attached to – do you have any updates on him?
Unfortunately, he’s already gone. He died six months after I visited him because without the adult to take care of it, it’s really hard to keep him eating and sleeping well. When a poacher kills the adult elephants, it will affect the younger one. That’s one of the things we learned from it.
How long were you in Africa when you filmed the documentary?
We were there twice and that added up to around two weeks, give or take.
China has been a market for elephant and rhino products and it’s very much part of Chinese culture. How long do you think it will take before you can change that part of China’s culture?
I think the timing is good right now. Like you said, collecting those ivory and rhino horns is a big tradition for us, for Chinese people. It is true. To collect those ivory just like some people like fancy cars or luxury cars today, it’s kind of like an identity for powerful people or wealthy people. But today I think people are ready to change that. Their attitude is changing. A lot of people I know in China, publicly, care more about conservation and also environment protection or some other philanthropy. They’re more concerned about something good for society instead of their personal identity, I think.
What do you hope the Chinese government can do to help stop the demand for ivory?
China is the number one market in the world, but the United States is right behind it at number two. We’re targeting consumers, which is to try to stop people from buying these things. But on the government’s side, I think if we can have the government ban ivory entirely, that would be really helpful. Because illegal ivory trading in China is already banned but they still have a legal trade on the market – that’s got to get people confused. How we have defined it as either legal or illegal, that would leave a gap for those in the black market. I think if we can make this simple, make this clear that ivory trade is being forbidden in China. That would be wonderful and make everything much easier.
Have you talked to your daughter about what you’ve done for the rhinos and the elephants?
I spoke to her and I told her about the story.
Do you have any pets?
Oh, I don’t have pets. For some reason, I don’t have pets.
Would your daughter like to have one?
That could be arranged.
Be sure to catch the rerun of Saving Africa’s Giants with Yao Ming on Discovery Channel (Astro Channel 551)
