Return to Transcripts main page

Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Edwards' Cancer Battle; Campaign Won't Stop; Funding the War; Animal Rescue Center

Aired March 22, 2007 - 23:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: An elephant getting a little too rough, a little too playful, not knowing its own strength. One of several we saw today being nursed back to health, not far from here. We'll have more of our day in the hour ahead.
But first, John Roberts is in New York with a story rocking the race for the White House -- John.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Anderson, thanks. Never a good day when an elephant tries to make you lunch.

A remarkable day today, both in political and human terms here in the United States. Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards, his wife Elizabeth and their doctor in front of the cameras today in North Carolina.

Three years ago, Elizabeth was treated for breast cancer. She thought she was clean, but today she said her cancer is back in her bones and perhaps elsewhere. The prognosis, treatable, but not in all likelihood curable.

Here's an extended look at what he and she had to say about her health and his campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Monday of this week, Elizabeth went to the doctor because she felt a pain on her left side. She went in, had x-rays taken. The result of the x-rays showed that she may have a fracture on the left side. And there was also something that looked suspicious in a rib on the right side.

ELIZABETH EDWARDS, WIFE OF JOHN EDWARDS: John was saying that last week people asked him how I was doing, and he said she's cancer- free. It turned out not to be the truth. But it was that attitude of, you know, we're going to always look for the silver lining. It is who we are as people. And we'll continue to do it.

I do want to say something, and that is this what happens to every cancer survivor, not that you ultimately get a bad diagnosis. But every time you get something suspicious, you go into alarm mode. And that's every cancer survivor that you know personally has exactly that experience of knowing that that pain they feel in their side, the ache they feel someplace could be the sign of something worse.

J. EDWARDS: We've been confronted with these kind of traumas and struggles already in our life. And we know from our previous experience that when this happens, you have a choice. You can go cower in the corner and hide or you can be tough and go out there and stand up for what you believe in.

E. EDWARDS: It's given us an opportunity to explain it to our children, which we have done, and they're fairly disappointed that it doesn't look like I'll lose my hair with the next round of medicine. But aside from that they have the same hopeful attitude that we have.

J. EDWARDS: The analogy that Dr. Carey gave us is it's like a patient having diabetes. You know, the disease never goes away. The diabetes never goes away, but you treat it. You treat it with insulin. You take your medicine. And that's exactly what we intend to do.

E. EDWARDS: Is this a hardship for us? Yes, it's yet another hurdle. But I've seen people who are in real desperate shape who don't first of all have the wonderful support that I have and have no place to turn and it's unbelievably important that we get this election right.

And in my view, and of course you all can recognize I'm probably prejudiced in this, there's nobody who is offering people of this country a more positive and delineated vision about where we can go than John. And so that's why it's important. It's important that the American people have the opportunity to have a president like him.

And I can't deprive him of that just because I want to sit home, feeling perfectly well, but wanting his company.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: So there you go. Despite the diagnosis, the campaign does go on, even at that press conference.

A friend of the Edwards' today said there was never any doubt that the campaign would go on. It says a lot about them and him and her.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS (voice-over): An intrepid military brat, Elizabeth Edwards spent much of her childhood in Japan. By the time she reached law school at Chapel Hill, classmates regarded her as cultured and poised.

But it was a country boy who won her heart. They married in 1977 the first Saturday after the bar exam. She practiced law for 19 years, until 1996, when their eldest child, Wade, was killed in a car accident.

At his grave, Elizabeth mourned for hours every day, until she and John came to a realization.

E. EDWARDS: We decided pretty quickly that we wanted -- we didn't want this -- these wrecks of people to be Wade's legacy. We wanted somehow -- he was a terrific boy. I mean, he really was just as good a boy as a mother could hope for. And we wanted his legacy to reflect that, instead of what you might have seen if you had walked in our house.

ROBERTS: Two years later, and after aggressive hormone treatment, Elizabeth had their third child, just as John was on his way to winning a seat in the U.S. Senate. Another baby quickly followed. And little Jack and Emma became regular fixtures on the campaign trail when their father ran for the White House in the 2004 election.

E. EDWARDS: Honestly, it was a great adventure for them. My dad was in the Navy. I traveled a lot. And, so, I thought, you know, that this experience for them to travel would be great. And it was.

With this man as your next vice president, tomorrow will be a better day, John Edwards.

ROBERTS: Elizabeth herself was active in the campaign, involved in strategy, and remains one of her husband's most important advisers -- but, just two weeks before the election, a problem that became a defining feature of their political future, breast cancer.

E. EDWARDS: You know, I felt the bump October 21 -- and the election is November 3 -- when I was campaigning. But I convinced myself. I let -- I wouldn't let myself think that this could be cancer.

ROBERTS: The election results were barely in when more bad news followed. It was cancer. After lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiation, Elizabeth was apparently cancer-free.

She regained her strength, wrote a bestselling book, even lost some 60 pounds. And she refuses to let this new diagnosis stop her life or her husband's campaign. She's a fighter, an attitude, she says, would define her should she ever become first lady.

E. EDWARDS: Honestly, I think that it's such a bubble of an existence, it's sort of hard to imagine what it would be like to be in that bubble. There are a lot of things that I like, that I advocate for now, and it would be great to get a huge megaphone to talk about those things and try to make them happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS (on camera): Well, more now on how she and the family are dealing with the news.

Earlier tonight I spoke with Elizabeth Edwards' brother, Jay Anania.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Jay, how did you first hear that your sister had gone back to the doctor and got this bad diagnosis -- which as I understand it, at the beginning seemed much more dire than it does in the light of day today.

JAY ANANIA, ELIZABETH EDWARDS' BROTHER: Right. Right. Well, I knew that the bone scan was going to happen at 10 o'clock.

Well, I knew that the bone scan was going to happen at 10:00. That's why John came back.

ROBERTS: You had been called saying that she broke -- had some pain?

(CROSSTALK)

ANANIA: Yes. Yes. I mean, we talk regularly. As a matter of act, we'd both been complaining about bad backs. How silly do I feel now that I just have a mere bad back?

So I knew the bone scan was going to happen. And so I was kind of waiting for her to call. She called from the doctor's office at 2:00 and said, we found out what caused the fractures, it's cancer.

I said, it can be fixed. Dumbly. She said, no, it can't. And that was -- that was sort of it. She had to go in for more tests.

ROBERTS: It's a tough moment. I remember when my brother called me back -- and this was back in 1981 and said I have cancer, it's terminal. It's incurable. Which is what this is.

ANANIA: Can't imagine.

ROBERTS: It's just a matter of how long.

ANANIA: Right, right. Yes. Well, I mean, I'm very sorry that you've had this.

ROBERTS: No, no, no. It was a long time ago.

ANANIA: Yes. But I'm sure it never leaves you. The -- you know, for her, she intends to live a very long time. This is a woman -- if I were a cancer cell and I wanted to attack a body, I would not attack hers.

ROBERTS: You would not pick this one.

ANANIA: She's far too powerful.

ROBERTS: In terms of how she's dealing with it emotionally, she has said that the mid 1990s death of her son Wade was the worst tragedy that she could ever imagine.

ANANIA: Of course.

ROBERTS: And of course the loss of a child is just the most...

ANANIA: It's unimaginable.

ROBERTS: ...traumatic tragedy that can ever happen to a parent. Has that allowed her to deal with setbacks like this, with challenges like this?

ANANIA: Yes, no doubt about it. She said -- on numerous occasions -- she said it today, the worst -- she has already endured the worst day of her life. Anything that follows from that is at best a shadow of that kind of burden.

And so I think that -- I think that both John and Elizabeth and the whole family is stronger for having endured this unspeakable, unspeakable loss.

ROBERTS: They were very deliberate today about the fact that this was not going to affect his campaign or her involvement in it. In fact, they released their campaign schedule for the next seven days. They've got a Sunday off, but I'm sure it's probably a travel day. She's up in Massachusetts tonight. She's got a lot of speeches.

Is there a chance, though, Jay, that in trying to show that everything can be all right, she's going to tire herself out at a time when she needs all her strength to try to fight this disease?

ANANIA: Yes. Yes. One could think that could be a danger. With her, she's a very, very bright woman. She's very aware of exactly what her situation is. She's under no illusions about it. And I'm completely confident, given that it's her, that if she gets tired, if there are any kind of symptoms, anything that would make it wise for her to slow down, she will slow down.

ROBERTS: And what about the campaign itself? A couple of journalists raised the idea that they can go out there and they can say that nothing's going to change. They're going to do it right now. But her condition is going to raise a lot of questions with supporters, with donors, with people who you need to have a viable campaign as to whether or not he's going to be able to make it all the way through.

ANANIA: Right. Right. Well, I mean, I certainly can't answer that. I can't -- I can't...

ROBERTS: What's your sense?

ANANIA: I can't speculate that what donors would think. My feeling is there's a tremendous amount of support for them. And I think that there's a lot of inspiration in the way they're continuing. I find it inspiring. And I would hope that voters and donors and the American public would respond to it in that way. Not as a matter of concern, but as an inspiration.

ROBERTS: Well, I've had a chance to know them both, shared a couple of shuttle flights with Elizabeth. She's a terrific lady, a real fighter. Certainly, our thoughts and prayers are with her and the entire family.

Jay Anania, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

ANANIA: Thanks for having me. (END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: The best known political wife to battle breast cancer is Betty Ford. Here's the raw data.

Betty Ford was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy one month after her husband took the oath of office. That was back in 1974.

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan was also diagnosed with breast cancer while her husband was president. She had a breast removed in 1987.

Another high-profile political wife, John Kennedy. The ex-wife of Senator Edward Kennedy had a lumpectomy to remove a cancerous tumor in her breast. That was in 2005.

So in terms of presidential politics, nothing unusual for the Edwards.

Ahead on 360, a capital shame. We're keeping them honest.

What does the war in Iraq have to do with the spinach you eat? The answer is enough to make you sick. That's coming up.

Also tonight, playful one second.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF CORWIN, HOST, "THE JEFF CORWIN EXPERIENCE": ... three.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Unpredictable the next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SCREAMING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Jeff Corwin's encounter with an elephant, when 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: That was U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, obviously startled when an explosion went off in the middle of his Baghdad news briefing. Standing next to him is Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki, who doesn't seem shaken at all. I guess you kind of get used to mortars exploding when you live in Baghdad.

With the war now in it's fifth year, House lawmakers may vote tomorrow on a bill containing $100 billion for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It seems pretty straightforward, but that's not all the bill contains. You might ask what the war and the California spinach industry have in common. If you say not much, well, you're probably right.

CNN's Joe Johns tonight is keeping them honest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The war and the spinach have all gotten tossed together, sort of, on Capitol Hill in a way that only makes sense, well, on Capitol Hill.

Buried somewhere in the dense fine print of the so-called Emergency Supplemental Spending Bill, a bill Congress absolutely must pass because it contains $100 billion for the war effort, is one small, but pricey item -- $25 million to bail out spinach growers in California. That's right, spinach growers. They got whacked hard during last year's E. coli outbreak.

REP. SAM FARR (D), CALIFORNIA: The supplemental bill is an emergency bill. It's emergency funding for Iraq and Afghanistan, which is the bulk of it. But it's also for emergencies that have been declared here in the United States, particularly in agriculture.

JOHNS: He's Sam Farr, the Democratic Congressman from the so- called salad bowl part of the country. He cares a lot about spinach, and he's taking a lot of heat for attaching emergency spinach money to emergency war money.

FARR: It's very easy to attack, but in reality, those spinach farmers have no recourse because there's no commodity support for them. There's no insurance for them.

JOHNS: That's one opinion. Oregon state Republican Activist Darryl Howard has quite another. His mom died a slow, painful death after eating some of that contaminated spinach. He says none of the spinach growers deserves a bailout.

DARRYL HOWARD, MOTHER DIED FORM E. COLI: The spinach killed our mother, the E. coli, 0157H7 killed our mother. Now they're asking us to pay for it.

JOHNS: But keeping them honest, the spinach bailout is just the beginning. The huge emergency spending bill, which the house could vote on tomorrow, is loaded up with $21 billion of stuff that the president never asked for.

$74 million to ensure the proper storage of peanuts. $283 million for something called the milk income loss compensation program. $120 million to scan and map traditional fishing grounds for shrimp. Remember, this bill is supposed to be for emergencies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Congress set a definition for what an emergency is. Sudden, unforeseen, urgent, temporary. A lot of these things don't meet that definition.

JOHNS (on camera): So why would Democrats, who spent a lot of time railing against pet projects on Capitol Hill suddenly start loading up a bill with pet projects? (voice-over): The answer, they're struggling to get the votes they need to pass the bill. Controversial because it includes a deadline for troop withdrawals from Iraq. So they've offered a bunch of sweeteners to get reluctant members of Congress on board. Naturally, the Republicans have noticed.

REP. ZACH WAMP (R), TENNESSEE: And I'm not a real partisan guy. But the truth is, this is where the Democrats are really completely running counter to what they campaigned on last year. This is really unprecedented.

JOHNS: On the other hand, no matter how good spinach is for you, the president has all but promised to veto the spending bill with all this extra stuff attached to it. And that could leave the troops waiting for the money until this gets sorted out.

Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Politics is politics.

Well, the biggest political story today wasn't all political at all, really. That's where our raw politics segment begins tonight. For that, let's go back to John Roberts in New York -- John.

ROBERTS: Hey, Anderson.

Political differences took a backseat today as presidential candidates from both sides offered their prayers and thoughts to Elizabeth and John Edwards.

The White House praised Elizabeth's courage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Somebody's been through this, Elizabeth Edwards is setting a powerful example for a lot of people and a good and positive one. She has been on top of diagnosis and follow-up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: All right, now here's where it gets raw. Big question in the presidential race -- what happens to the war on terror in the new White House?

Well, if Rudy Giuliani wins, the war on terror becomes the terrorist war against us. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it?

We're making good progress in the terrorist war against us. But Giuliani thinks, war on terror sends the wrong message and could in fact hurt America's image.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RUDY GULIANI, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a terrorist war against us. We've got to keep reminding ourselves of that. We have to keep reminding ourselves of the fact that they are in various parts of the world planning to come here and attack us or attack us overseas. That condition is going to exist for some time. We kind of have to get it into your mentality and into our policies and stop sort of feeding the idea that maybe this is a war of our choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: And it's amazing how one little word can sour a relationship. Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney and Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson used to be great friends, even though Anderson is a Democrat.

Take a look at what Romney said about him back in 2003.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Mitt Romney and I can tell you Rocky Anderson is a strong leader and a great mayor. That guy never stops. In my view, Salt Lake City's a better place because of Rocky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Better place because of Rocky. But recently, Anderson uttered the "I" word about President Bush, saying President Bush should be impeached. What's Romney saying about his bosom buddy now? "I do not endorse or support his views on President Bush or almost any other issue, particularly that's unrelated to being a mayor." Aha, a small caveat in there. Unrelated to being a mayor. Well, maybe the relationship hasn't gone completely rocky.

And that's raw politics -- Anderson.

COOPER: John, thanks very much.

Next on 360, our "Planet in Peril" series, and one of the most extraordinary lion attacks you'll ever see.

Also tonight, our own not so little brush with nature. What began as playful suddenly turned, well, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), when 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We've been across Southeast Asia this week, reporting for our "Planet in Peril" series. On Monday we showed you how endangered animals are sold in open markets in Bangkok and slaughtered for profit in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

What about the animals that are saved?

Today we went to a rescue center here in Cambodia. That's where it began for the 360 team and Wildlife Biologist Jeff Corwin. And for Jeff, the journey -- well, it ended in a hospital after a little incident with an elephant. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): He's only about a year-and-a-half old, but already, this Asian elephant has seen a lifetime of pain.

One of his feet is missing, ripped off likely trying to escape a poacher's snare. A bloody stump is all that remains. He has found sanctuary here at Cambodia's Phnom Tamao Rescue Center. They call him Chook. He arrived some two weeks ago and is still badly malnourished and in great pain.

Conservationists with the Wildlife Alliance are trying to save him, but his wounds are serious. He may not survive.

(on camera): Once a week, veterinarians here sedate this young elephant. They use this blowgun to shoot a dart into him. It's the only way they can safely treat his wounds.

(voice-over): It takes about 10 minutes for the sedative to take hold.

JEFF CORWIN, HOST, "THE JEFF CORWIN EXPERIENCE": Is he going down?

This elephant is a wild creature. She would totally stress out if you tried to manhandle it. Plus -- plus, he is very, very strong. This elephant is weighing in at 500 pounds.

COOPER: And what are you doing now? You're peeling the skin off?

CORWIN: Basically just dressing the wound. And they have to do this every week. Even if this wound is actually able to heal, the skin is able to overcome it, there are still serious issues with the joints, with the shoulder.

And, again, this is a young animal. It only weighs about 500 pounds. What is its physical state going to be in three or four years, when it's weighing thousands of pounds?

COOPER: They have just given him a shot to reverse the effects of the sedative. They have bandaged the wound, made sure it's tight, so the elephant is able -- not able to just rip off the bandage when he wakes up. Now, this -- because of this shot, he should wake up in about 10 minutes.

(voice-over): By the time Chook comes to, he's clearly scared. But some fruit and affection calm him quickly.

A century ago, there were thousands of Asian elephants in this part of the world. Now, there are only hundreds. Elephants are social animals. Even those harmed by poachers or treated poorly can remain affectionate. And, as we found out, they're curious towards people. They're smelling with it?

CORWIN: Absolutely. He's smelling you. They have an incredibly heightened sense of smell. Maybe he thinks you -- you don't -- this is called the snap.

(LAUGHTER)

CORWIN: All you have to say is uncle. Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: There are dozens of species at Phnom Tamao, all of them victims of the black market animal trade or habitat laws. These tigers were cubs when they were caught by a trafficker, who tried to sell them on the black market.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The wildlife trade is hugely cruel.

We see the results of it -- very, very badly injured animals. Animals that have been in snares. We have to deal with that. And it's run by very wealthy, very rich people. And it isn't poor subsistence guys that we're hitting. It's big wealthy traders. And it's a huge, huge traffic.

CORWIN: Uh-oh. No. No.

COOPER: As you can see, not everything goes as planned when you're working with animals.

At the end of the day, we help bathe the elephants in a nearby pond. Despite their traumatic experiences, they are incredibly playful.

CORWIN: 700-pound tree.

That was its leg.

COOPER: But, as Jeff himself had warned me, they don't know their own strength. Take a look at what happens. Watch Jeff's left arm.

CORWIN: The numbers...

(SCREAMING)

COOPER: One of the elephants gets a hold of Jeff's arm with his mouth. It happens so fast. But it could have been much worse.

CORWIN: Elephants, despite their good nature, forget how strong they are and play a little rough. My arm got twisted. And there, you can see where his muscle, his mouth grabbed onto it right there and gave it a good twist.

I don't think it's broken. I think it's fine. Maybe a little strained. And now, I know what it's like to be a circus peanut, going down the gullet of an elephant. COOPER: Jeff was lucky. His arm's OK. The incident, though, is a reminder of the difficult position these animals are now in. Forced from their natural habitat, they're no longer wild, but they're certainly not tame. They've been separated from what they know and have to learn to survive in an ever-shrinking world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (on camera): Joining me now is Suwanna Gauntlett, the country director for Wildlife Alliance here in Cambodia.

It's remarkable work that you're doing at that center. What's the greatest threat to these animals?

SUWANNA GAUNTLETT, WILDLIFE ALLIANCE CAMBODIA: The greatest threat to these animals is the wildlife trade. And wildlife trafficking is so rampant. When I arrived here seven years ago, having tigers in your living room or bears in cages in your living room was a way of life. Eating a bear claw after your golf tournament was a sign of status.

COOPER: People would eat bear paws after playing golf?

GAUNTLETT: Right, exactly.

COOPER: And how do you go about stopping it?

GAUNTLETT: Well, we did a combination of law enforcement helping the forestry administrations create a special brigade that works on roads and national borders, restaurants, markets, cracking down on every sign of wildlife trafficking, plus the campaign that worked hand in hand with law enforcement. And we've been able to reduce wildlife consumption in the restaurant by 95 percent.

COOPER: Wow. There's obviously, you know, huge problems here, a lot of corruption here, a lot of social issues going on. Who's behind this? I mean, this is not just a few poor people hunting animals. This is a big business.

GAUNTLETT: Yes, definitely this is not subsistence. This is a big business akin to weapons and drugs and child prostitution. It's high-ranking officials, rich businessmen and oftentimes people from -- it's trans-boundary. It can be Thai people working in Cambodia. We know there's a huge warehouse in Laou for all the wildlife going up the Mekong (ph) and being, you know, stored in Laou on its way to China. We have routes going from Tongwaysof (ph) for a monkey collection down to Vietnam for the laboratory animals. It's a big business.

COOPER: It's highly organized.

GAUNTLETT: Highly organized.

COOPER: What's -- I mean, you've been here seven years. What -- what surprised you most? What's the most shocking thing you've seen? GAUNTLETT: The most shocking thing is that traditional medicine, which is one of the drivers of this, and it comes from China, we know that China's is 40 percent of the world market for this, the traditional medicine beliefs are not changing. And despite our efforts, we see that pregnant women will still continue eating crucified dried loris after they have delivered instead of eating protein. There's no health understanding of what your body needs. It's really folk understanding.

COOPER: So what does Wildlife Alliance, what's the greatest emphasis right now?

GAUNTLETT: We're doing two things. We're stopping the wildlife trade as it leaves the border, as much as we can. Unfortunately we're only doing one-tenth of what needs to be done so it's ten times bigger. But our biggest, most effective effort is to protect the most landmass and forest, the largest wildlife reserve that exists in Cambodia, which is called the Southwest Elephant Corridor in the Cardamom Mountain range and preventing these animals from leaving, doing ranger protect and releasing wildlife back to restock what's been decimated.

COOPER: And we're going to try to highlight some of those efforts in the coming days. Suwanna, appreciate what you're doing. Thanks so much for coming on and talking about it. Appreciate it.

GAUNTLETT: You're very welcome, Anderson, thank you.

COOPER: You can read more about our experiences at the Phnom Penh Wildlife Center where Wildlife Alliance is working on our blog. Go to cnn.com/360blog. Ahead on the program -- the sex trade and modern day slavery. And the story of a survivor who is just six years old. That's coming up tonight.

Also, looking at earth in a new way. Take a look.

(voice-over): Breathtaking and unprecedented, the world like you haven't seen before. Remarkable images from a landmark series that took years to make when 360 continues.

Also tonight, putting a price on justice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Defense doesn't have to call families of four murdered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: A gunman goes on a deadly rampage in Atlanta. That was two years ago. So why hasn't the trial started yet? Ahead on 360.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: That's certainly something few of us ever get to see, a great white shark hunting a fur seal. The remarkable pictures were shot for the Discovery Channel, part of their new documentary series "Planet Earth", the project was five years in the making and the first episode premieres this weekend.

Here in Southeast Asia we've been working on our own "Planet in Peril" series this week. Our goal, like Discovery's is to take you to corners of the world where animals and the environment are at risk. What Discovery found in its travels, it's nothing short of extraordinary.

Jonah Keeling is a producer who worked on the "Planet Earth" project. I spoke to him earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Jonny, I want to start with a clip. Filming some lions in Botswana at night and there were elephants in the area.

Let's take a look.

I don't know if I've ever seen anything like that. It's highly unusual, I think, for lions to attack elephants. What was going on?

JONNY KEELING, PRODUCER, "PLANET EARTH": Yeah, as you say, it's a very rare behavior. And in one place, in Botswana, there is 30 lions which attack elephants and try to bring them down and eat them. That's kind of all that -- There's no other food around, so that's what they have to do. It's pretty frightening.

COOPER: How close were you to the action?

KEELING: We were -- we were in vehicles and we were about -- we were about 15 yards, 20 yard as way and there were elephants running around us and lions all around the vehicle. It was quite chaotic.

COOPER: There is also some amazing video of a polar bear and her cubs coming out of hibernation. We've been focusing a lot in the last couple weeks on global warming and its effect on polar bears. What happens if this trend continues?

KEELING: The footage which is unique is polar bears coming out of their den with their cubs and it's in -- shot in Norway. And it's wonderful footage.

But at the moment, over the last few years polar bears have been found drowned in recent years, because they're having to swim such a long way because global warming is causing a shrinkage of the ice cap.

And so polar bears are having to swim a lot further and they're drowning. And it's estimated that possibly they could go extinct in the next 30, 40 years if we continue with the CO2 emissions that we're putting out.

COOPER: The series also caught some amazing close-ups of a snow leopard in the wild, I think even shots of the animal hunting, which I certainly have never seen before. Why is it so rare to get these shots? I mean, how difficult is it? KEELING: It's very, very difficult. The crew were filming in northern Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan, so a very kind of security-sensitive area. And just to get permissions to film there was very difficult. And then they went back on three or four occasions for a number of weeks just to get -- to get these shots.

And they are very, very rarely seen by anyone, snow leopards, let alone seen hunting. So it is a very unique situation which they were able to film.

COOPER: It took also two month for your crews to track down Bactrian camels in the Gobi Desert. I'd never even heard of them but apparently there are less than a thousand of them left. They have been classified as critically endangered. What is the threat to them? What is killing these camels?

KEELING: They have traditionally been hunted a lot in the past. They live in China and Mongolia. Hunted for their meat and for their hide. That's one major impact. And they are also losing their habitat. They are threatened by domestic livestock as well the water's supply limited in the desert. So the camels are competing with domestic livestock.

So there's many, many pressures on them. But we were lucky enough to get some incredible footage of them for the deserts program.

COOPER: It is just incredible. It's on Discovery. Jonny, appreciate you coming on to talk about it. Thank you so much.

KEELING: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Up next - it is not just animals in danger, of course. So are women and children here in Cambodia. A look at modern-day slavery. A former prostitute trying to change that. See how she is helping children escape the danger.

Plus Ashley Smith, the woman who turned in the gunman accused of shooting rampage that shocked Atlanta, that was more than two years ago. Still no trial. What's go on? Try to find out when 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Some of the images taken by our photographer, Jeff Hutchens from Getty Images. We've been dealing with trafficking this week in Southeast Asia, trafficking of humans as well as animals.

Tonight an update on a story about the sex trade here in Phnom Penh. It is about a former prostitute who has turned her life around and is trying to help others. CNN's Dan Rivers first brought us the report. Dan joins us now. Dan?

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We featured Samaly Mam, this former prostitute, as you say, a couple of days ago. She came from a red light district like this, she was sold into the sex trade. She escaped. And set up her own charity rescuing children from brothels. Now she's rescued about 150 kids. But one kid in particular, a six-year-old girl called Shray (ph), has really touched Samaly's heart and it's an incredibly powerful story. I met them both. It's all the more powerful when you realize that Shray is HIV positive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAMALY MAM, SAMALYMAM.ORG: It's hard for her to talk about her story. I don't want to remember. She had been young, five, around five years old.

RIVERS: She was five and she was working in a brothel?

MAM: Se was working in a brothel. Her mommy sell her with her sister to the brothel. Sometime she's talk about rape.

RIVERS: Talks about rape?

MAM: Yeah. She say to me like, the guy rape her. But I just say to her, if she wants to speak, she can speak, if not, but I don't want her to remember to speak. All the rest of the time I want her to play.

RIVERS: What condition was Shray in when you first saw her in the brothel?

MAM: I cannot believe it. I saw her in the brothel when the police take her. She's too small. And she's sad. She's crying a lot. And I just take her like this. You know, she look at me and -- I know that even she didn't talk to me but she say, like, please help me. Like, mommy, please. And I take her and put her in my car.

RIVERS: Tell me about the health problems that Shray has.

MAM: She's very sick. She has HIV-AIDS. She has problems of pneumonia. You know she just say to me, mommy, she call me her mother -- and I'm going to die for sure. And I say to her, no, no, no, don't worry. She say like, why I take a lot of medicine.

RIVERS: People watching this will be horrified that a girl of six was working in a brothel.

MAM: I want all of the people to, you know, like pay attention of this problem. Because this problem, like we talk a lot, more than 10 years we talk about the children trafficking, child exploitation but nothing done. She's going to die for sure. And I don't know, I just want her to be happy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: You know, it's easy to get complacent about a lot of problems in the world but a five-year-old child, sold into slavery by her own parents. It just boggles the mind. RIVERS: Apparently, these kids are sold by their parents, sometimes for about $600. They can be sold to Cambodian men or to western sex tourists that come here. The other horrifying aspect sometimes they're rented out to johns that come here looking for a child sex for perhaps as low as $50 a week.

COOPER: And what is the future hold for his little girl? She's six years old now. She is HIV positive. Is she getting medicine?

RIVERS: She's getting medicine, she is getting treatment. The treatment here is obviously not as good as it would be in America or in Europe. But she is getting treatment. But she also has pneumonia, she has T.B. and that's apart from the psychological trauma that she suffered. You can imagine what she's gone through at such a young age when she's just being formed as a person.

COOPER: And we're in the area which is really essentially the red light district in Phnom Penh trying to highlight the issue. And yet, prostitution is illegal in Cambodia and yet it's going on all the time. The authorities know about it. It's not as if this is some sort of a secret. Nicholas Kristof has reported in the past there's collusion between the authorities and the brothel owners, sometimes even the police are owning these brothels.

RIVERS: Absolutely. And when you realize that this is probably one of the number one destinations in the world for this kind of thing, and yet last year there were only 400, I think, arrests to do with child sex, prostitution, I mean it's a really tiny fraction that the police have managed to tackle. And as you say you walk around places like this, it's all pretty open at night. No one's hiding it. You don't have to look far around here to see prostitutes. And you don't have to dig far to find children ...

COOPER: What is her organization's name? If people see this and want to ...

RIVERS: It's SamalyMam.org is the Web site. If people want to help, log on, donate money. She does a great job.

COOPER: Samaly is spelled ...

RIVERS: S-A-M-A-L-Y.

COOPER: And Mam?

RIVERS: M-A-M.

COOPER: M-A-M. SamalyMam.org. Dan, appreciate it. Thank you. Remarkable reporting. Incredible story.

Up next we'll take you back to the U.S. Remember when the nation was transfixed by the hunt for the man who fatally shot a judge in a crowded Georgia courtroom?

Well, that was two years ago and the accused gunman still hasn't faced trial. Find out why next on 360. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN HOST: Brian Nichols accused of I killing a judge, a court reporter, a sheriff's deputy and federal agent. He then became the subject of the largest manhunt in Georgia history. Nichols' alleged crime spree happened more than two years ago but he still hasn't gone to trial. And just yesterday that trial was postponed again. Wait until you hear why.

CNN's Rick Sanchez reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If ever there's been a case that looked like a slam-dunk, it's this one. Because what Brian Nichols did, which according to police is kill, and kill and kill and kill, he did in plain view. Atlanta defense attorney B.J. Bernstein is among those closely watching the case.

B.J. BERNSTEIN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I hear it all the time. Even just going to the grocery store. People talk about this case in Atlanta and they're wondering, why does it take so long when everyone saw this play out in front of our very eyes in?

SANCHEZ (on camera): Here is this amazing case in a nutshell. Inside the courthouse, he beats up and takes the gun from one of his guards, allegedly. Then he goes into a courtroom, it's filled with people, shoots and kills a judge, and shoots and kills a stenographer, allegedly. Then he runs out of the building through these stairs right here, comes out in the middle of the street. The street is filled with cars. The sidewalk is filled with people.

And he gets into a gun battle with a sheriff's deputy, shoots and kills the sheriff's deputy, allegedly. Then he goes across the street into the parking garage where he begins a carjacking spree, taking one car after another. In one of those cars he finally ends up in the other end of town, where he also shoots and kills a federal agent.

Did I mention allegedly?

Plenty of witnesses.

BERNSTEIN: Plenty of witnesses. And types of witnesses that make good witnesses. You're talking the middle of the day, you are talking people in court who are sober, who are there for the business of their job.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): OK. So what is the deal? Why the delay? How has a case that looks so simple gotten to so complicated and cost taxpayers more than $1.5 million already? Here's how presiding Judge Hilton Fuller explains it ...

JUDGE HILTON FULLER, DEKALB COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT: The issue of funding for indigent capital defense in Georgia and the complexities of this particular case have prevented the orderly and uninterrupted process of this case to trial. SANCHEZ: What does he mean by indigent capital funding? By law everybody has the right to an attorney, even alleged, notorious killers like Nichols. Georgia's public defenders office, though, has no money because legislators are bickering over the state budget.

The judge says, no money, no trial. Lawyers, after all, can't work if they're not being paid.

Speaking of money, for this trial, they'll need plenty of it. One expense that stands out, Nichols' jailhouse phone calls were recorded, 400 hours of them. But they can't be used as evidence until they're transcribed and so far, they've only transcribed ...

FULLER: One percent of the 400 hours, 50 attorney days would be required just to listen to them. We can all do the math.

SANCHEZ: We did. And it comes out $40,000 just to listen to tapes. So is there anything that could speed up the case, make it less complex?

Yes. If the prosecution were willing to accept a deal where Nichols would plead guilty to avoid the death penalty. It would certainly be cheaper, and faster, but try convincing the families whose loved ones were shot and killed that Brian Nichols will go on living.

CHRISTOPHER QUINN, PROSECUTOR: Defense doesn't have to call the families of four murdered people.

SANCHEZ: But for now it seems that tomorrow, because of politics and money and the high stakes involved, will be a long way away. Rick Sanchez, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: And coming up next, the death of Anna Nicole Smith, forget about the speculation and all of those conspiracy theories. Why the mystery surrounding her death may soon be solved when 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Let's check in now with Kiran Chetry for a 360 bulletin. Hey there, Kiran.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, John.

We start off with a story just into the newsroom. Officials in Baltimore County, Maryland say they're treating a number of passengers from a charter bus for carbon monoxide poisoning. That bus was carrying students, they were on an ROTC trip when some of them got sick. According to local affiliate WMAR, one student passed out and was taken to a local trauma center. No word on the condition of that student. There were two students who apparently showed symptoms earlier in New Jersey and they left the bus there. To Connecticut where a former U.S. sailor was indicted tonight terrorism charges. Hassan Abu Jihad, who used to go by the name of Paul Hall was arrested two week ago. Federal prosecutors say that he provided classified information on the movement of a U.S. Navy ship to a group that ran jihadi Web sites. If convicted he faces up to 25 years in prison.

In Florida we all may soon find out what caused Anna Nicole Smith's death. A medical examiner says autopsy results will be released on Monday. The former "Playboy" playmate died in a hotel (inaudible). Her death has led to a bitter custody battle over her daughter, Dannielynn.

And the age-old question. How do you defrost a giant squid? Get a giant microwave, apparently. Scientists are considering doing that so that they can study the massive creature. The squid, measuring 33 feet, weighing more than 1,000 pounds was caught last month in the waters off Antarctica and they froze it so they could preserve it but now they are trying to figure out how to thaw it out.

ROBERTS: So you could chop it up for calamari, a little marinara sauce in there ...

CHETRY: Yeah.

ROBERTS: Deep fry, whatever.

CHETRY: If you did, they say they would be calamari circles as big as tractor tires.

ROBERTS: Can you imagine that?

CHETRY: But they taste like ammonia ...

ROBERTS: Thanks Kiran. Apparently a little problem with your mike there. We apologize for that. Didn't sort of register over here because I'm listening to you in the studio.

Anyways, John Roberts here in New York along with Kiran. Thanks for joining us out tonight. Back to Anderson in Cambodia one more time. Anderson?

COOPER: Hey, John, thanks so much. Great job tonight as always. Please watch AMERICAN MORNING tomorrow morning starting at 6:00 a.m. with Soledad and Miles. And we'll see you tomorrow and Larry King is coming up next. Good night.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com