Rating: 
Summary: Animal Outrage
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Brutal, but fair and insightful!
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Can't believe what I'm seeing
Review: I haven't read this book, and I don't think I ever want to. To see that this book portrays all keepers and owners of exotic animals as animals themselves is horrible. I don't know how the author of this book could call himself an animal lover if he's putting down the reputation of the people who take care of these animals. Some, yes, some people do abuse their right to care for and/or own the animals, and sometimes even abuse the animals themselves. I can say I'm pursuing a career in exotic animal training for the likes of television and movies, and I think it's horrible that people like myself are getting a bad name. I personally love animals and would never cause my animals to be afraid, abused, or hurt in any way. Even if this book doesn't say that all exotic owners abuse their animals, the reviews I read are horrible - saying they'll not enjoy zoos anymore and such. I love zoos, I know how much work goes into such an establishment, and I commend their breeding programs. Maybe the author just has something against exotic keepers. I'm not even saying all keepers and owners are good-natured and animal-loving people, but the reviews make it sound like they're all to be hated as far as this book is concerned. If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong, but I just want everyone to know that you can't base all your beliefs on one book, and it doesn't speak for everyone. There are still a lot of good people out there who genuinely love all animals and would never hurt them. I look forward to owning my own exotics someday in *several* years once I'm well educated about them, have all the legal and necessary permits, my own business established, and several acres of land with proper housing for them. Not all owners are irresponsible, but apparently some authors are ignorant.
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: An absurd collection of lies to further a cause
Review: I read this book in a bookstore because I certainly would not want to pay money for such trash. I don't know where this author did his "research" in this subject but it couldn't have been on this planet. I raise exotic animals and the stories and examples he gives in his book are ridiculous. He has taken a few examples of "bad apples" and stretched the truth to have us thinking that all zoos and people who raise exotic animals are bad. I especially found humorous his portrayal of the exotic animal auction where the attendees are a secret society and don't want the public to know about them or what they're doing. Gee, it's hard to get that impression when you see all of the people there freely handing out their business cards, website addresses, dressed in their shirts and jackets that advertise their business, driving their pickups pulling the trailers that also have their business names plastered on them. This book is so typical of most books dealing with animal rights. When you can't find enough "truth" to further your cause, twist things out of proportion, make things up or just plain lie!!
Rating:
Summary: An absurd collection of lies to further a cause
Review: I read this book in a bookstore because I certainly would not want to pay money for such trash. I don't know where this author did his "research" in this subject but it couldn't have been on this planet. I raise exotic animals and the stories and examples he gives in his book are ridiculous. He has taken a few examples of "bad apples" and stretched the truth to have us thinking that all zoos and people who raise exotic animals are bad. I especially found humorous his portrayal of the exotic animal auction where the attendees are a secret society and don't want the public to know about them or what they're doing. Gee, it's hard to get that impression when you see all of the people there freely handing out their business cards, website addresses, dressed in their shirts and jackets that advertise their business, driving their pickups pulling the trailers that also have their business names plastered on them. This book is so typical of most books dealing with animal rights. When you can't find enough "truth" to further your cause, twist things out of proportion, make things up or just plain lie!!
Rating: 
Summary: A shocking exposé of the black market animal trade
Review: I've read many books on animal rights as well as primate studies, but this book has perhaps shocked me the most with its tales of supposedly reputable zoos selling their "surplus" animals to dealers who then place them in game reserves where they are shot for sport. Don't believe it? Read this book; Green has clearly researched his subject matter with journalistic determination, uncovering truths that previously lay hidden behind a labyrinth of paperwork. Green details the illegal removal of rare species from other countries and their treatment here in North America, from zoos to animal trainers to private owners.You will never again see a baby giraffe in a zoo and be able to enjoy it. You'll discover how a loophole in the Endangered Species Act allows Bengal tigers, lemurs, and other endangered species to be bought and sold without permits and paperwork. You'll never be able to watch a chimpanzee perform on television without wondering about his off-stage treatment. Alan Green loves animals - his awe and his concern are palpable. When he describes the fate of particular animals, you will feel the injustice with all your heart. If this doesn't convince you to stand up for the rights of captive animals, no other book will.
Rating:
Summary: Remarkably detailed and thought provoking.
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Remarkably detailed and thought provoking.
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Poorly researched
Review: Looks like it was compiled from 3rd and 4th hand animal rights sources. Much of it is outright misinformation and is an attempt to convince the average person that buying and selling exotic animals is illegal. In fact, anyone with a USDA permit may breed and sell exotic animals. Anyone with a USDI permit may breed, buy and sell captive bred endangered species. Only the AZA doesn't allow zoos within their membership to sell to non-AZA sources, but the AZA is only an organization and may not make nor enforce laws concerning exotic animals. This book was published as an effort to drum up support of a ban on private ownership of exotic animals and should be disreguarded by serious exotic animal keepers as extremist rantings.
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