China's most famous athlete, former basketball star Yao Ming isn't afraid to express his concern over the environmental issue of elephants being slaughtered every day.  

Ming partnered with environmental organization WildAid and American cable network Discovery Channel in an effort to create an educational documentary about the thousands of elephants being killed by poachers in Africa

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Demand for ivory in China has been blamed for helping Elephant poaching thrive in Africa.

The one-hour documentary titled "Saving Africa's Giants with Yao Ming" was recently released on the Discovery Channel showing the many problems within the underground industry and the passionate concerns from Yao to put an end to the slaughters.

Elephant poaching has drastically increased because of the demand for ivory in Asian nations, particularly in China. Ivory is used to make a variety of ornaments and other decorative items.

"Honestly, after that experience, any time I see ivory, either from pictures or videos of items, it makes me feel sad because I know there's a body, a carcass, a life being lost in Africa," Yao said, citing his first trip to Africa.

Elephants are killed in Africa every day to harvest their tusks. In fact, poachers killed more than 100,000 elephants within a two-year time span from 2010 to 2012. Reports show that the black market price of ivory has skyrocketed, and because of this, more people in China are willing to take criminal risks.

Yao's main message is for people including the Chinese to simply stop buying products with ivory, which would essentially decrease the demand for elephant tusks, thus having a huge impact on the amount of slaughters in Africa.

Yao mentions that the demand for ivory isn't just an issue in China but also a big issue in the U.S. as well, adding that the support of government would certainly help the cause of putting an end to killing elephants for their tusks:

"It's not just China that has a demand for ivory; the United States is the second biggest market. We are going through the consumers and asking them to stop buying, but government support would be wonderful, too. If China expressly forbids the trade of ivory, that would send a powerful message."

TagsElephant poaching, Elephant slaughters, ivory, tusks, Africa, environmental issues, Yao Ming