Animal Underworld

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.