rarely seen images show elephants being forced to endure a cruel spirit-breaking ritual known as the fashong. these activities take place in remote camps on the burmese border, far from the public eye. >> in thailand, they use sharp things to stab them. they use knives, they use axe, they use a stick to beat them. anything that will make the elephant painful and afraid of people. a lot of them die. we have a record how the elephant dies. die from suffocate, die from starvation, die from the stress, and some of them die from th heartbreak bause they couldn't accept it. >> while the lucrative trade in wild elephant smuggling is illegal in thailand, lek alleges that it involves corruption on various levels. >> have the police involved, have the military involved. you know, if you want to make birth certificate or i.d. card, you can fake it. big money for the official to issue the paper. >> once you are confronting these influential people that are above the law, it can get quite dangerous. there were some camp owners that like told me literally that if i was guy i would be dead already. >> shor