About this item
Our insatiable demand for animals-for jewelry, pets, medicine, meat, trophies, and fur-is driving a worldwide poaching epidemic, threatening the continued existence of countless species. Illegal wildlife trade now ranks among the largest contraband industries in the world, yet compared to drug, arms, or human trafficking, the wildlife crisis has received scant attention and support, leaving it up to passionate individuals fighting on the ground to try to ensure that elephants, tigers, rhinos, and more are still around for future generations.As Reefer Madness (Schlosser) took us into the drug market, or Susan Orlean descended into the swampy obsessions of The Orchid Thief, Nuwer-an award-winning science journalist with a background in ecology-takes listeners on a narrative journey to the front lines of the trade: to killing fields in Africa, traditional medicine black markets in China, and wild meat restaurants in Vietnam. Through exhaustive first-hand reporting that took her to ten countries, Nuwer explores the forces currently driving demand for animals and their parts; the toll that demand is extracting on species across the planet; and the conservationists, rangers, and activists who believe it is not too late to stop the impending extinctions.
About the Author
Rachel Nuwer is an award-winning freelance journalist who reports about science, travel, food and adventure for media outlets such as the New York Times, National Geographic, Scientific American and more. She writes two columns, Last Place on Earth and What If.., for BBC Future. Her first book, "Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking," is set for publication in September 2018 with Da Capo Press. Rachel's love for nature and science was kicked off by a childhood exploring the bayous and beaches of southern Mississippi. Originally dreaming of becoming a conservation scientist, in 2010, she investigated illegal wildlife trade and natural resource use in Vietnam for her ecology master's thesis at the University of East Anglia, England. She also discovered science journalism that year - her true calling - and went on to earn a second master's degree in 2011 at New York University's Science, Health, and Environmental Writing Program.Rachel lives in Brooklyn with a computer programmer and a large orange cat.
