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Zoos are places where animals are protected, kept safe from the ravages of the outside world and sheltered from extinction, right? Not necessarily, writes investigative reporter Alan Green, who takes his readers behind the bars in Animal Underworld to tell an unsettling tale of deception and cruelty.
That story opens at a zoo in northern Virginia, one of many such places around the United States in which black bears, once an exotic sight, have become a too-common commodity. Baby bears bring crowds, Green writes; unruly juveniles and listless adults do not. What happens to the bears who cannot contribute to the zoo's overhead? Animal sanctuaries are already overfull; individuals are not allowed to keep bears as pets without hard-to-obtain licenses; and bears raised in cages do not know how to fend for themselves in the wild. There is simply no place for them, Green writes, and the bears have economic worth only for their parts--the claws for jewelry, the flesh for restaurants, the paws for Asian apothecaries.
The nefarious means by which supposedly protected animals--many in danger of disappearing in the wild--are brought to market forms the heart of Green's disturbing report. Some of the country's most important zoos and museums turn up as villains in his pages, and readers will likely never visit such places again without wondering at the fate of the creatures that look out at them from the other side of the cage. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
A vast and previously undisclosed underground economy exists in the United States. The products bought and sold: animals. In Animal Underworld, veteran investigative journalist Alan Green exposes the sleazy, sometimes illegal web of those who trade in rare and exotic creatures. Green and The Center for Public Integrity reveal which American zoos and amusement parks dump their "surplus" animals on the middlemen adept at secretly redirecting them into the private pet trade. We're taken to exotic-animal auctions, where the anonymous high bidders are often notorious dealers, hunting-ranch proprietors, and profit-minded charlatans masquerading as conservationists. We visit some of the nation's most prestigious universities and research laboratories, whose diseased monkeys are "laundered" through this same network of breeders and dealers until they finally reach the homes of unsuspecting pet owners. And we meet the men and women who make their living by skirting through loopholes in the law, or by ignoring the law altogether. For anyone who cares about animals; for pet owners, zoo-goers, wildlife conservationists, and animal welfare advocates, Animal Underworld is gripping, shocking reading.
Customer Reviews:
Disturbing, but solution is not practical.......2007-01-31
I have read most of this book. I volunteer at the same zoo.
I say I've only read most of the book because I found some parts so disturbing that I had to stop reading. The conditions of animals or the fact that some animals came from big animal parks only to be killed in canned hunts or the fact that some animals were trained to give a paw through a cage only to have the paw cut off and the animal bleed to death was too much for me to take.
So I've read most of the book and took away the horrifying message that not all zoos are telling you the truth. So I started asking detailed questions at the zoo I volunteer at (same one in the book that Mr. Green volunteered for and coincidentally the house right next to the one he volunteered in). When I started in 2000, I brought up my concerns about the animals that were being shipped all over the place and being taken in to the house. Since that time and since this book was published the Species Survival Plan and AZA management has been revitalized. There are distinct destinations for zoo animals. If someone says Lowry Park Zoo is getting a tiger, Lowry Park gets that tiger. Volunteers can even ask to accompany the animals to ensure they get to where they are supposed to be.
The message Mr. Green sends is that zoos should care for thier animals from cradle to grave. That isn't necessarily probable or beneficial for the animals. If you have a male elephant born at a zoo and it does not have a large enough enclosure for a male elephant, the zoo must transfer the animal to another place that has enough space. However, Mr. Green brings up an excellent point that AZA zoos should manage their animals closely from cradle to grave. There is no point in AZA accreditation if you don't have a way to manage animals that works.
Also, the U.S. Government must pay attention to this illegal trade. It makes close to the same amount of money as illegal drugs and there is still no legislation that funds APHIS enough to investigate this trade and shut it down. There is no legislation to stop the killing of wild animals in cages. There is no legislation barring the public from owning exotic animals without the education to care for the exotics. It is 2007 and still no one wants to look at the big elephant in the room.
I recommend this book for the information it has, but not for the solution it gives. Change can happen but by working with zoos, not by protesting them.
Wake up.......2007-01-30
I'm writing this review more as a response to the negative reviews posted here by proponents of the wild animal trade. Some have accused Green of poor research, or making blanket statements about zoos and the wildlife trade, which leads me to wonder if they've even read the book. In fact, one such reviewer admitted not reading it - talk about poor research.
The fact is, the author was a volunteer in one of our nation's most prestigious zoos, and simply became concerned about the animals that were continually being sent to other facilities. He began to research their whereabouts, and was horrified at what he found, prompting him to undertake further investigation.
The book specifically outlines the research and how it was conducted; Green followed paper trails, and that so many papers are forged and so many animals are simply traded illegally without proper paperwork made it a difficult task. Where the author was unable to follow up, he says so quite clearly. That so many of our nation's zoos are directly involved in furthering an animal welfare crisis should be a poor reflection on the zoos, not on the author who points it out.
As to the accusation that Green is trying to convince people that the wildlife trade is illegal, read the book again. He is very clear about what the laws are, and that lack of legislation, vague legislation, and under-staffed and under-funded government agencies are part of the problem. In fact, much of the difficulty in tracking down animals was a result of the incompetence of government agencies.
As an animal welfare professional, I frequently use this book as a reference, but I also do my own research (directly, not "3rd and 4th hand"), and it's very clear that the wild animal trade is out of control in this country, creating an animal welfare disaster and a very real threat to public health. Of course the exotic animal breeders, including those who have left reviews here, don't want you to read this book - it threatens their livelihood. If their real concern was animal welfare or conservation, they wouldn't be breeding animals and selling them for profit. Pay close attention to what they say - when they start talking about their rights as animal owners, it's clear whose welfare they're really concerned with. My personal opinion is that simply being human does not endow us with the natural right to possess wild animals, and there are plenty of ethical ways to enjoy them and even profit from them without exploiting or abusing them.
I also must question the integrity of a person who would read a book cover to cover in a book store rather than paying for it. Would you want people to abuse your exotic animals without paying for them first? Try the library next time.
No book is perfect, but this one is worth your time. Don't just take what it says at face value - do your own research; check out the facilities Green mentions; try to follow some of the paper trails yourself; go to an accredited wildlife sanctuary and ask where the animals came from. Then draw your own conclusions, and decide what role you'll play.
A tragic and shocking truth.......2007-01-14
To those of us who don't always hear the truth about what happens to exotic animals in the "pet" trade, in zoos, at hunting parks, or other places, this book is a wonderfully enlightening read. Meticulously researched, the author uncovers what really happens to the thousands of animals that end up as surplus from zoos and other breeders. You might think twice before visiting an exotic game park or zoo after reading this book. Other readers who breed exotic animals for profit as pets overlook the point that the author is trying to make: wild animals are not domesticated animals, nor should they be ripped out of the wild, bred, sold and bought for a profit. The horrible lives in small cages that many of these animals endure is not worth the "fun" one might have viewing them at a zoo or keeping them as a pet. Exotic animals do not make good pets and would be better off in the wild with their own kind, rather than behind our cage bars for our viewing pleasure.
please contact me reasearch re- this book.......2006-05-29
I have read all your reviews with great interest i am a student in the u.k studying BSc (Hons) Animal Behaviour i will be starting my final year in sept 06 and during the summer holiday i will carrying out research for my final dissertation project and i would like to hear from anyone who has experience of owning an exotic species or who knows someone that has.I would like to hear from the vet teche in florida regarding state laws there but no email address on your amazon profile. I can be contacted on imartra@hotmail.com or on MSN messenger. thanks Catherine
The Only Good Pet Monkey is a Pet Sea Monkey.......2004-01-17
There is no doubt that there is a huge, lucrative, underground trade in exotics, and that many of the people involved in it are unethical scumbags. Of course, not ALL individuals who own exotic pets are nasty: some of them are conscientious and care enough to be well-informed about the species they choose to own.
But the author of this book provides an important service to the public. Green sheds light into the dark corners of the exotics business, part of which involves shuffling zoo and research animals to canned hunt facilities or roadside petting zoos. It all works through middlemen who assure legitimate keepers that their surplus animals are going to qualified handlers, when in fact they are often laundered through pet auctions or given to animal collectors who abandon them at the first sign of difficult behavior or ill health.
Take monkeys and apes. They're cute and smart, but mishandling can create a strong, deranged primate that will pose very real risks to anyone not familiar with their needs. Also, they harbor all kinds of diseases that are a direct threat to public health, and some that haven't jumped the species barrier yet but, in the future, may do so. Hardly any sanctuaries exist that can care for them once they are no longer needed for research or public display. What should we, as a society that frowns on animal cruelty, do for them?
Anyone who is interested in exotics, animal-based research, or even visiting the zoo should read this book. Yes, Green almost exclusively discusses the creepy side of the issue. But he also describes some very ethically-run sancutaries and some individuals in the zoo and research sectors who truly care for their charges' welfare.
As for owning exotic pets, I personally think there are some people who actually are qualified to do so. Who decides those qualifications? That's another issue. Also, "exotics" include everything from hedgehogs and sugar gliders to tigers and the great apes. I've owned the former two, and found them to be sweet little companion animals. (But if someone offered me a giraffe, I'm afraid I would have to decline.) Not all exotics are totally inappropriate for all people. But some exotics are totally inappropriate for most people.
I do think that certain surplus zoo animals should be euthanized rather than forced to live out their remaining years in misery. I also think that the surplus itself should be examined: why aren't certain species more aggressively sterilized? And, I think all zoo and research animals should be microchipped so that they can be tracked once they leave their original home.
Green isn't afraid to name names and cite specific examples of cruelty. I know there are readers who are angry about what he wrote, and dispute his findings, but they haven't countered with any specifics that undermine this book. If any of his critics can prove that the incidents Green discusses didn't happen, then I'd like to hear about it.
Book Description
David Liittschwager and Susan Middleton have established a reputation as the foremost chroniclers of the endangered natural world, combining rigorous methodology with aesthetic genius. Their work has afforded a vivid presence to rare animals and plants, many of which are threatened with extinction.
This groundbreaking portfolio of photographs encompasses the spectacular array of life-forms endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, including species either new to science or previously thought to be extinct.
Working with internationally renowned field biologists, Liittschwager and Middleton have ventured into remote native habitats and uncovered intact ecosystems where plants and animals still live in healthy relationship to one another. Their inaccessibility has helped protect these habitats from damage, even if it means that few people will ever have the opportunity to experience their richness and value directly.
Remains of a Rainbow combines Liittschwager's and Middleton's work with a powerful text (including a foreword by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer W.S. Merwin) to tell a story of rare and wondrous creatures and habitats and the people devoted to their preservation.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful Book.......2007-01-19
We first saw the hard-back version of this book in the museum on the island of Kauai. We thought it was a wonderful hardback book, but the museum tols us that it could cost $150.00 and was no longer available in any form. Luckily we found it on Amazon in soft cover (which is more than adequate) and for much less money. Truely a beautiful and informative book!
Pretty pictures but don't trust the text.......2006-11-08
The pictures of rare Hawaiian plants and animals in "Remains of a Rainbow" are pretty.
Pretty uninformative. And the text is largely nonsense.
The tipoff is "rich volcanic soil." When you see that in a book about Hawaiian natural history, you know right away that the author made no effort to learn his subject.
Just a few paragraphs away, we run into a rhapsody about the ancient Hawaiians' respect for the "unity and balance of the natural world." Large, slow, tasty birds excepted, of course.
The text by photographers David Liitschwager and Susan Middleton (assisted by Maui poet W.S. Merwin in an ill-informed introduction) is the verbal equivalent of kudzu -- an exotic, boring growth that smothers the interesting natural stuff underneath. Green goo.
It is understandable why the sponsors of "Remains" -- Environmental Defense and the National Geographic Society -- pander this way. It is not so easy to sell Hawaii's endangered plants and animals on their merits. After all, you and I are not likely ever to encounter most of them.
Which raises a question: If none of us is going to meet them except in the pages of a book, why bother to preserve them in nature? A small herb that was never known to exist until three or four years ago, and which was down to maybe five or 10 individuals then, is not going to alter the islands' ecosystem if it disappears.
One answer to that question is the last word in this book, taken from the writings of the late Maui biologist Wayne Gagne: "We are in pursuit of environmental quality, an ethical stance where our native biota is concerned, and for accepting each natural ecosystem on the planet for what it is . . . each a unique result of multifaceted ecological processes, past, present and continuing."
Fine words, but Liittschwager, Middleton and their sponsors obviously do not believe they can sell them. So instead of marketing Hawaii for what it is -- a unique place -- they peddle the ecological situation here, which is grim enough in fact, as part of a crisis "of declining biodiversity worldwide."
This is the "sixth great extinction" argument, one of those resilient popular ideas for which there is little evidence. People holding such views can find themselves in paradoxical situations.
Middleton, who blows the tin horn of mass extinctions louder than Liittschwager, writes about how after 15 years of working with endangered species, none she had encountered had yet gone extinct. Until Clermontia peleana.
But it turns out that while Clermontia peleana, a Big Island plant, probably is extinct in the wild, it is not yet quite extinct from the Earth.
Middleton does not seem to find any contradiction in simultaneous belief that the world is in the midst of the biggest extinction crisis in 65 million years and the fact that even a specialist in endangered species has yet to encounter one that passed on.
Considering that outsiders Liittschwager and Middleton had the cooperation of dozens of Hawaii's best biologists, they could easily have done better.
For one thing -- and this is another tipoff that the writers have not done their homework -- if they had listened to local experts, they would not have made such a big deal of Hawaii's biological diversity. To call islands with no amphibians, no reptiles, no pines and no ants diverse is perverse.
Instead of revealing and reveling in Hawaii's strange status -- its untypical ecological situation makes it the greatest natural laboratory of evolution -- Liitschwager and Middleton went for the picturesque and shallow.
Their pictures are gorgeous but don't tell much. They mostly were shot against solid backgrounds and display only a part of the organism. There is little hint of how each species functions within its community.
The misleading text of Liittschwager and Middleton is somewhat corrected by thumbnail descriptions of the 142 species illustrated, which were written by local authorities and are reliable.
"Remains of a Rainbow" represents the work of years, with the combined support for publishing from Environmental Defense, the National Tropical Botanical Garden and The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii; along with the on-the-ground help of NTBG, Maui Land & Pineapple Co. and other public-spirited groups.
In an afterword, David Wilcove, senior ecologist of Environmental Defense, writes that the survival of species in desperate straits will rely on "above all, public education."
"Remains of a Rainbow" is so far from contributing to public education that readers will end up knowing less about Hawaii after reading the book than they did before.
Don't get me wrong............2006-01-18
Now don't get me wrong. This is a wonderful book with beautiful photographs of Native Plants and Animals of Hawaii. The only thing wrong with the Softcover version is that the cover creases so easily. So if you want this book for your own personal library the Hardcover version is preferred. But if it is used as it is meant to be, as a coffee table book, than this is the book to have.
WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW.......2003-02-25
WOWS on every page. I gave this book to my Mother and Aunt for X-Mass. I wanted one for myself but ran out of cash (dag nab it) This is one of the most AMAZING nature books ever. If you need some brownie points give this as a gift, it will keep you out of the Dog House for YEARS.
Spectacular Photographs.......2002-04-28
This book contains some of the most spectacular photographs you've seen. Close-ups even a pro would seldom come close to. It's unlikely you'll see many of these in your travels, but it feels like your walking through a Hawaiian tropical jungle as you page through the book. Many of the pages would look great framed for your walls. This is the perfect coffee table book, all of my friends have picked it up and marveled over the interesting plants and flowers, even the non-gardeners.
Book Description
Kids need to know thatNwhether it's a spiny cactus, a cute panda, or a slimy snailNall endangered species of plant, animal, bird, fish, and insect deserve our respect and need our attention. Arts and crafts, essays, rhymes, questions for discussion, hands-on science activities and more all combine to teach children about endangered species and how human beings can help prevent further extinction. This important volume in the award-winning NatureScope¨ seriesNready-to-use resource books for teachers, parents, naturalists, club and scout leadersNis a must-have for anyone and everyone concerned with building children's environmental awareness and letting them know that kids can make a difference.
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A Bevy of Beasts: The Enchanting Animals of Borneo, Belize & Beyond
Edward Mendell
Manufacturer: Atrium Publishers Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0951586319 |
Customer Reviews:
Very Informative and Well Researched.......2006-05-09
Matthew A. Billie has written a wonderful book, for anyone fascinated with the continual search for the rare and unclassified in the Animal Kingdom. There are so many possibilities of the maybe still out there, that there is hope for even the most endangered. And this book brings out so many times, the times we thought we had lost a species, only to rediscover them in some hidden locale. And I like that.
Broken into three parts, we first are wowed with the many recent discoveries, even late into the 20th Century. Recent Discoveries.
Then we are enlightened about the thought-to-be-extinct, but rediscovered. Presumed Extinct.
And lastly, we enter into the world of the unknown. At least to the non-locals, for to many of the natives, they are just another species they are very aware of. The Mystery Animals.
Mr. Billie has done his research well, and shows great knowledge of the animal kingdom. Hopefully, more works in this area will follow from this author.
cryptozoological book.......2003-10-01
this is the definitive book on cryptozoology, although short in length. it is very informative and the author has shown a rare intellect and avoidance of sensationalism; if you're looking for bigfoot or loch ness monster, look elsewhere. this book belongs in the science section of a bookstore, not new age. very critically reasoned and an important work. i wish it was longer and more lavishly illustrated. must buy
Who'd ha' thunk it?.......2001-06-29
There are more things in heaven and earth... and, remarkably, Matt Bille has tracked a lot of them down. Furred, hooved, beaked and feathered Bille has assembled a parade of lost, found, forgotten and never suspected creatures. Exhaustively researched, well organized and extremely well written this book ends with a fascinating excursion into the what ifs of the animal kingdom. Anyone who has doubts about the importance of doing our utmost to protect the environment and by extension the diversity of the natural world should be offered this book as proof of the value of preserving both.
Excellent presentation of unknown & barely known animals.......1997-04-05
Bille does the cryptozoological world a favor by this book which updates recent discoveries, losses, and new leads on unknown and undiscovered animals. It could be argued that, with the amazing discoveries coming out of the Viet Nam jungles, a book of this sort is necessary on a yearly basis, just to keep up! The author does not pursue the "spectacular" cryptids, such as sasquatch or lake monsters, but focuses instead on the very real small primates, fishes and reptiles that make up our world. If I have one complaint, it would be that the author owes us a book on the spectacular ones now
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Threatened Birds of the Americas: The ICBP/IUCN Red Data Book (Third Edition, Part 2)
N. J. Collar
Manufacturer: Smithsonian Institution Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1560982675 |
Customer Reviews:
Special.......2005-05-01
I read this book as a child and recently re-read it. I find this book special because it not just covers valuable details of extinct species but also tells the history and even legends surrounding them.
The author travels from around 1200 to the late 1950's and covers last sightings and noteably shows the greed that led to many species extinction.
It is a book that is still very close to challenges humanity faces today.
A Rare Information Source!.......2001-03-09
This book is indeed a rare breed of book. It is interesting and informative, and it is full of finer details and key information that I could not find anywhere else. This is a great book to read if you're researching extinct or rare animals, or if you even want to write your own book on the topic. A true gem....
A rare info source!.......2001-03-08
This book was very interesting and informative, with valuable, detailed information about each extinct or endangered species that I could not find anywhere else. This has information that is very good and it is wonderful if you are looking for detail in research of these animals or if you are writing your own book about them. This can tell you everything from the color of the dodo's feathers to the sound of the quagga's neigh...
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