THE final episode of Sir David Attenborough’s Seven Worlds, One Planet on BBC One has left viewers devastated as the episode detailed the horrific effects of Africa’s ivory trade.
The last episode in the groundbreaking series saw the acclaimed naturalist reveal that “elephants have used their great intelligence to help them survive Africa’s driest times for millennia, but today they face an even greater threat”.
Sir David added: “It’s thought that as many as 20 million elephants once roamed the continent.
“But many have been killed for their tusks, their ivory used for entirely ornamental purposes. Now just 350,000 elephants remain.”
He also spoke passionately about the imminent extinction of the northern white rhinoceros, which has also been poached for its horn, and he concluded: “When they die, an entire sub-species who inhabited the earth for millions of years would have disappeared forever.
His words left viewers in tears and wondering how the human race managed to destroy a planet in just centuries
One viewer tweeted: “Watched seven worlds one planet and I am angry sobbing I hate everything we’ve done to this planet – the confiscated ivory tusks made me so physically sick – we need to do so much better right now.”
Another added: “Just watching seven worlds one planet and I have to say the Far East should be ashamed of themselves, along with mankind in general f*****g disgraceful.
Later in the episode, Sir David called on humanity to make a change, reminding viewers that things can be turned around, as seen by the reemergence of whales in the Arctic seas.
‘The decisions we take now will influence the future of animals, humanity and indeed all life on Earth,” he said.
The series has been a particularly traumatising series with viewers watching in horror as one episode showed an orangutan fighting with a digger and hundreds of walruses falling off a cliff as they attempted to to escape a polar bear.
Those watching at home first started crying as they watched the walruses scramble over each other to avoid being attacked.
The distressing clip showed hundreds of them desperately trying to escape – only to fall from the edge and die.
Things got even worse when the Attenborough-narrated series switched to a forest in Borneo and a lone orangutan was seen running along the last remaining tree trunk while being chased by two men and a digger.
His fight didn’t last long though as the digger won and bulldozed through, forcing the ape to fall.
The amazing footage, taken at Sungai Putri forest in Borneo, was uploaded to Facebook by workers from International Animal Rescue (I.A.R) in 2018 and used in the BBC series.
It shows the orangutan running along a fallen tree so it can reach out and grab the excavator’s bucket, as shocked logging workers look on.
As the bucket is lifted into the air, the great ape tries to hang on but is then knocked to the ground below. The beast then tries to scramble around the back of the bulldozer so it climb back on.
The animal charity revealed they were able to save the animal from harm and take him away to safety.
“This desperate orangutan is frantically seeking refuge from the destructive power of the bulldozer; a machine that has already decimated everything else around him,” said I.A.R.
