Watch Dethroned: The award-winning documentary on big cat exploitation
The award‑winning documentary on big cat exploitation is now streaming on Curiosity Stream.
Image: FOUR PAWS
An internationally acclaimed documentary that shines a light on the global exploitation of big cats is now available for streaming, according to animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS.
Dethroned, which recently earned a Gold Award at the 2025 International Tourism Film Festival Africa, is now streaming on Curiosity Stream. The film follows environmental photojournalist Aaron Gekoski across four continents as he investigates the commercial breeding, illegal trade, and exploitative tourism practices facing the world’s most iconic predators.
Gekoski spoke candidly about the three-year process of creating the film. "Dethroned is a film that I actually wish I had never had to make,” he stated. “But given the threat that big cats are now facing, it is perhaps the most important film I have ever worked on. We spent three years filming in six countries; the result is a journey into the depths of the inhumane treatment of these animals and what becomes of us when we destroy all that is sacred.”
The investigation spans regions including Peru, which battles jaguar poaching; South Africa, with its issues of commercial lion and tiger breeding and cub-petting; Pakistan, where big cats are kept as exotic pets; and Southeast Asia, with its wildlife markets.
Fiona Miles, Director at FOUR PAWS, underscored the critical message of the documentary. “With this documentary, we want to show that our relationship with big cats is at a very critical point,” she said.
“Little remains of the former reverence. On the contrary: we lock the animals up, we trade in them and their body parts, we keep them as pets - in short, we systematically exploit them and take away their dignity.”
Miles added that the organisation’s aim was to show “how things got to this point and what consequences this has for animals, people and the environment.”
FOUR PAWS encourages the public to watch and share the film to support its mission of ending commercial captive breeding and stronger legal protections for big cats worldwide. The documentary trailer can be viewed on YouTube, and the full film is available on Curiosity Stream.