Forbidden Creatures: Inside The World Of Animal Smuggling And Exotic Pets

"Forbidden Creatures" (Inside the World of Animal Smuggling and Exotic Pets): by Peter Laufer (PHD), is somewhat of an updated version of various animal conservation styled books such as; "Animal Underworld" by Alan Green, "Where the Wild things Were" by William Stolzenburg, and "The Empty Ocean" by Richard Ellis. However, this book veers more into the business and psychological path of collecting exotic creatures, as well as the "exotic personalities" who collect them. Sometimes you wonder..." who's really collecting who"?What are the reasons people are so obsessed with collecting these unusual and dangerous animals? In the case of primates it seems that the "mothering" or nurturing of a helpless cute little "human-like" creature is the initial impetuous, but soon overridden by anthromorphic feelings that somehow snare those who are caring for the animal. The author naturally brings up the danger of such illusion by interjecting the tragic chimpanzee attack on Charla Nash, as well as a host of other "pet" attacks.The need to collect and maintain exotic animals stems from; Love of Intrigue, fascination of the unusual, symbolic power of authority, loneliness, and... a full bag of various independent psychological needs. The results of which are usually counter-productive for both the "collected", as well as the..." collectors".Dr. Laufer gives the reader a full in-depth range of this dark and nasty worldwide business. He introduces the reader to all involved; "the good", "the bad' and..."the ugly."Dr. Laufer makes a prophetic statement on page 140 when he discusses the changing laws and attitudes of a developing sensitivity by most nations when he states: "At the same time, our cultural zeitgeist is becoming more sensitive about the use of animals for human amusement." Ironically, some thirty years ago, I was reading such books as ; "A Zoo in My Luggage" and "My Family and Other Animals" by private Zoo collector and animal lover, Gerald Durrell. A time when it was "Ok" to collect "forbidden creatures", and now I can easily see (and, rightfully so)... "The pendulum has swung in the opposite direction." Somewhere in all of this...there is a glimmer of hope thanks to people like, Dr. Peter Laufer. Although, I sometimes felt that some of his information appeared repetitious throughout the book at times, Dr. Laufer's writing technique and presentation are interesting and fun to read. He exhibits an obvious sense of humor in his writing, which ultimately helps to dilute the aura of sadness in this topic matter. This is above all, an informative and interesting book. If, you profess to "love animals" then, I highly suggest ...you read this book!

I read and purchased this book after seeing it attached to 'Stolen World' on Amazon. The author interviews some interesting people but when interviewing them seems to go to great lengths to make them seem rather bizarre when in some cases they seem perfectly responsible in what they are doing. He makes attempts to dismiss their efforts and successes often with glib commentary. As an example at Chimparty one would have to be clueless not to see that the lady being interviewed has done an admirable job maintaining such a large and difficult group of animals. Zoos often have more resources and staff and don't do nearly as well as she has done. Likewise her knowledge of these animals is a resource for their captive management. This is aside from her breeding and selling chimps which I do not support. But the rest of what she has done is an admirable effort that the author simply dismisses as his words ' a misguided, tragic figure, an unfortunate woman who may be as trapped and broken as her chimps'. Nonsense, she has been passionate, dedicated, respectful, and successful with a difficult species. She has done better than most zoos for goodness sakes. Is this even broached- No as that would make exotic owners seem positive.Another complete miss on his part is the benefit of animal outreach programs to the general publics general awareness of wildlife in general. If all we had where public instituions with wildlife the public would be woefully underinformed and unfamiliar with animals and this would hurt allot of the very causes alleged animal rights groups support. Shamu may not have the life of his wild cousins but can anyone reasonably argue that the captive whale doesn't increase public awareness of wild populations.The author is completely dismissive of the very real environmental toll loose house cats have on native populations of wild animals particuarly songbirds. He poo poos the mention of this from Shawn Heflick. Later mentioning his vet(obviously misguided as well) tells him a housecat should be outdoors. The damage housecats do across the USA to various species far exceeds that of the pythons in the everglades.In conclusion while the author does a decent job highlighting the relatively rare occurrences of exotics causing problems and attempts to be even handed in allot of places. In the end his work is pointedly one sided and to dismissve of logic and the reality of how animals exotic and not impact our world.

Living in Southwest Florida I am affected daily by the invasion of non-native species of plants and animals, so I have a "horse in this race" and could not wait to dig into this book. It did not disappoint.....attempts to take the middle road toward owning/raising non native and endangered species, but that is hard to do when you read about "pet" monkeys and snakes attacking and in some cases, even killing their owners or other family members. EVERY pet owner should read this book......just for clarity and a sense of how easy it is to own non native species and sell them to anyone anywhere. Was a bit too technical in just a few places, but overall, an excellent insight/analysis into the world of exotic and non native "pets". A real eye-opener!!

Purchased this and another title for a “Problem Solution” paper dealing with wildlife trafficking/ownership etc etc. Well-written, the author explains their own POV but doesn’t dwell on their own and they do not come off “preachy”, which is what I fear with topics such as this. Highly recommend for anyone interested in real-life cases or just general knowledge of wildlife in captivity/trafficking/ownership.

Along with "The Orchid Thief" ,"The Scent of Scandal: Greed, Betrayal, and the World's Most Beautiful Orchid" ,and other books of this genera, I find this subject fascinating. Intriguing look into the psyche of those addicted to their exotics, their dysfunction, the moneymakers and the unfortunate animals most importantly!

Very interesting book about a highly unreported subject. Reads like a novel and full of strange and interesting characters. As they say, truth is always stranger than fiction! Highly recommended.

Lots of opinions that were based on his view, which seemed to be a bit one sided. I didn't enjoy the book at all

It's a fascinating yet sad book I think -not only as a biologist, but as a human entitled to enjoying the world- that everyone should read this book, it unveils, from different perspectives, the illegal trade of the most precious gift we have on earth, where all of our goods and services come from: Biodiversity!!! And even though the approach is mainly from a very ethical perspective, if you are wise, you should know there are more values to biodiversity than just their right to exist.I wanna praise Peter Laufner's work and the guts he's had to deal with the dangerous lot he probably came across periodically. Hopefully one day I'll e mail my thesis on illegal trade if wildlife in Colombia, South America! Thumbs up!!!

This book is incredibly easy to read and provides information on the captivity of exotic animals in America. This was definitely a book that I would pick up, read for a bit, put the book down and then re-read it at a later time. The author does not really captivate the reader but provides clear information, topic-specific interviews and stories to inform the reader.