Customer Reviews

Animal Underworld: Inside America's Black Market for Rare and Exotic Species

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

Bravo, Mr. Green! This meticulously researched book cuts right to the heart of the incredibly cruel and profitable trade in exotic species in the U.S. Although it's tough reading at times, this brutal but fair account rips the lid off a trade which can only exist if all parties conspire to look the other way regarding the origin and disposition of these unfortunate animals as they wend their way though the system. This book is SURE to ruffle more than a few feathers - particularly among those whose very livelihood depends on keeping this trade hidden from public view.

I just couldn't believe what I was reading. Now when I hear of new births at zoos, most recently a gorilla in D.C., I feel helpless. I just had this little fantasy going about the zoos and what can I say after reading Mr. Green's book except that Tinkerbell is dead. I need to know this information not as an aniamal rights activist, which i'm not, but as a human being.

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.

This book reads like a documentary film. It is quick and to the point. It will shake the foundation of what you have perceived to be "good" in the business of animals. Do the zoos pander to the public to give them "babies" every season? Or does the public accept what zoos tell us as the way it is supposed to be? This book should be mandatory reading for anyone in the animal business (zookeepers, directors, zoo visitors, pet shop owners, dealers, USDA staff, vets, etc) and that includes just about everyone breathing air. Your stomach will churn with vivid accounts of what happens to our precious fuzzy critters. This book shows what determined detective work will uncover, and that is the ugly truth of the animal underworld.

I've read many books on animal rights as well as primate studies, but this book has perhaps shocked me the most with its tales of supposedly reputable zoos selling their "surplus" animals to dealers who then place them in game reserves where they are shot for sport. Don't believe it? Read this book; Green has clearly researched his subject matter with journalistic determination, uncovering truths that previously lay hidden behind a labyrinth of paperwork. Green details the illegal removal of rare species from other countries and their treatment here in North America, from zoos to animal trainers to private owners.

You will never again see a baby giraffe in a zoo and be able to enjoy it. You'll discover how a loophole in the Endangered Species Act allows Bengal tigers, lemurs, and other endangered species to be bought and sold without permits and paperwork. You'll never be able to watch a chimpanzee perform on television without wondering about his off-stage treatment.

Alan Green loves animals - his awe and his concern are palpable. When he describes the fate of particular animals, you will feel the injustice with all your heart. If this doesn't convince you to stand up for the rights of captive animals, no other book will.

It is rare for a book to break new ground on an important current issue like animal rights, but this one has, even though the author does not pretend to be an animal rights activist. It is not a polemic, making broad generalizations about such and such a crime; the author actually got in his car and drove from state to state, and actually looked at the so-called "animal dealer" facilities. He literally followed the trucks from the back gates of zoos, where they took out the older (less cute, cuddly, and popular) animals and sold them to dealers who often use them for "canned hunts"...where hunters pay big money to bag a favorite trophy animal (without traveling to Africa to poach one).

Basically the zoos "wash their hands" of any responsibility to an animal once it steps into a truck for shipment. I myself worked as a volunteer in a zoo which shipped a couple of rare rhinos off to China, where they "accidentally" died (in the cargo hold of a ship) and ended up being ground into aphrodesiacs.

I myself am not opposed to zoos in general; there are many good things they do. However, there are most certainly a number of illicit/illegal/immoral activities they participate in for pragmatic reasons. After all, we do not really need 7 tigers, do we? What is the harm in selling the 3 old ones? Well, that dealer is offering the most money, and he has a USDA license, so let him take them...

Really, the animals do get older, and the old ones are not the crowd pleasers and money makers. It is the cute baby pandas or tigers or monkeys that bring in the tourists. Just like pets, these cute babies eventually grow up, and aren't as cute anymore. Most zoos already have their own breeding populations, and so trading among themselves is a fairly limited market. So where do they go? It is the same problem as overpopulated and unwanted pets. As this book points out, the zoos may euthanize them ("the animal became ill and died" it says in the press release), or sell them, or even give them away.

I do not recommend this book to the pleasure reader, because it is not a pleasurable read... it deals with the dark and nasty side of a popular tourist attraction, the zoo. However, for people who want to know the truth about the dark side of the zoo (and help to bring about reforms), it is a critical read.

After reading this book I don't know how anyone could comfortably visit a zoo or animal park. I find what goes on behind the scenes a moral outrage. There is no doubt in my mind that the private ownership laws in this country have to be changed. I think that exotic animals should only be bred by organizations doing so for genetic reasons. Private dealers and the like should never be permitted to breed exotic animals. When you can read a magazine like Animal Finder's Guide and see Bengal tigers advertised ... you have to realize that this is a serious problem. Why are the licenses so easy to obtain? Why do zoos, which are publicly funded in many cases, have no responsibility to publicly disclose what they do with their animals? After all we support them. This book shows once again how cruel we as people are to the other species around us. I think it should be required reading for anyone who desires ownership of an exotic species or supports animal rights.

This book was interesting, though I found the author's writing style to be very repetitive. There is much the public doesn't know about "zoo overpopulation" but Green clearly picks his words in order to maximize emotional impact. Much of what he reports on isn't actually "cruel" or "inhumane" - it's just stuff we'd rather not know about the zoo industry.

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.