By by Rosie Cooney, Chair, IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group
Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking by Rachel Love Nuwer. De Capo Press. 2018. 384 pp. ISBN-13: 9780306825507. Price: $28 / $36.50
A nuanced treatise on illegal wildlife trade misses some opportunities to advance the conversation.
In a Hanoi restaurant, a cobra lashes its body in a desperate attempt at escape while a waiter expertly slits its belly and extracts its beating heart, sending a stream of blood into a waiting vessel to the delight of the onlooking French diners. This scene hints at one of the factors that drive the illicit trade in wild species. But why is it conducted with such apparent impunity? And why have attempts to address it been so ineffective?READ MORE