Book review: Trading To Extinction, By Patrick Brown

Published to coincide with last week’s global summit in London on the illegal wildlife trade, Trading To Extinction is a unique and devastating record of this tragic industry.

It is a shocking tale of cruelty, crime, and human greed. This is a business which, like the drugs trade, is fuelled by money, and whose tentacles encircle the world. A poacher who kills a rhino and removes its horn in India gets $350. By the time it reaches Hong Kong, Beijing, or the Middle East, the horn is worth $60,000 per kilo, rivalling the street value of cocaine, and even the price of gold. Pictured left, a group of park rangers with elephants patrol Kaziranga National Park, in Assam, India, on the lookout for tigers and poachers.