On his book Exploiting the Wilderness: An Analysis of Wildlife Crime
Cover Interview of March 04, 2018
In a nutshell
I set out to provide the reader with a detailed overview of
the global illegal trade in African wildlife. The illegal trade involves the
poaching, trafficking and consumption of common and endangered species. These
include mammals, marine species, reptiles, birds and plants. I based my book on
12 years of fieldwork I did in Africa and the United Kingdom, and current
research literature. I worked in nine east and southern African nations
interviewing hundreds of individuals involved in monitoring and preventing
different aspects of the illegal wildlife trade. I also did research in the UK
as it is a destination country for African wildlife. The result is a book that provides
a contemporary description of the nature of the wildlife trade including the
species; the poachers, traffickers and consumers; the causes of these crimes;
and past and current efforts to control and prevent the illegal trade.
Ecologists and biologists conducted much of the early
research on poaching and trafficking with a focus on species survival and
habitat preservation. I approached the problem as a criminologist, that is, one
interested in the causes of crime, the behavior of offenders and solutions. I
provide a detailed description of poachers including their methods and
motivations. I also examine the role of intermediaries in the illegal trade.
These are the key actors who move the illegal wildlife products from poacher to
retailers. They are involved in a range of activities including recruiting
poachers, supplying firearms, paying bribes to government officials, and
smuggling wildlife to the end user nations. Finally, I describe the consumer
nations for wildlife since their demand for these products influences the
market. The focus is mainly on markets in Africa, Asia and the European Union—all major destinations for African wildlife.
In a chapter on causes of this crime, I start with a
description of the impact of game parks and game laws established during the
colonial period in Africa on traditional wildlife use practices of indigenous
populations. I also examine what occurred in wildlife conservation following
the end of the colonial era when many African nations transitioned to self-rule.
In this next section, I provide the reader with a review of the application of
modern criminological theory to wildlife offenses. These include the contemporary
work on data-driven anti-poaching efforts based on situational crime
prevention theory.
In a chapter on policing wildlife, I describe those
individuals charged with protecting wildlife: the game or field rangers in
Africa. My book offers a description of how African rangers are recruited, selected,
trained and how they operate in the parks. I also compare and contrast the
public sector rangers working in the national parks with their private sector
counterparts who work as security in the private game reserves and farms of
South Africa. As a comparison, I write about the U.S. model of conservation
officers and game wardens at the state level.
I would like the reader to come away with a sound
understanding of the nature of this problem, the actors involved in this crime,
and the threat it poses to wildlife in Africa. I want to reach a broad range of
readers interested in wildlife conservation Besides university professors and
graduate students, I also want this work to encourage undergraduate students
interested in conservation to pursue a career in the field, and to serve as a
foundation for other criminologists to build upon with their research.
The dominant premise in evolution and economics is that a person is being loyal to natural law if he or she attends to self’s interest and welfare before being concerned with the needs and demands of family or community. The public does not realize that this statement is not an established scientific principle but an ethical preference. Nonetheless, this belief has created a moral confusion among North Americans and Europeans because the evolution of our species was accompanied by the disposition to worry about kin and the collectives to which one belongs.Jerome Kagan, Interview of September 17, 2009
[T]he Holocaust transformed our whole way of thinking about war and heroism. War is no longer a proving ground for heroism in the same way it used to be. Instead, war now is something that we must avoid at all costs—because genocides often take place under the cover of war. We are no longer all potential soldiers (though we are that too), but we are all potential victims of the traumas war creates. This, at least, is one important development in the way Western populations envision war, even if it does not always predominate in the thinking of our political leaders.Carolyn J. Dean, Interview of February 01, 2011
In a nutshell
I set out to provide the reader with a detailed overview of the global illegal trade in African wildlife. The illegal trade involves the poaching, trafficking and consumption of common and endangered species. These include mammals, marine species, reptiles, birds and plants. I based my book on 12 years of fieldwork I did in Africa and the United Kingdom, and current research literature. I worked in nine east and southern African nations interviewing hundreds of individuals involved in monitoring and preventing different aspects of the illegal wildlife trade. I also did research in the UK as it is a destination country for African wildlife. The result is a book that provides a contemporary description of the nature of the wildlife trade including the species; the poachers, traffickers and consumers; the causes of these crimes; and past and current efforts to control and prevent the illegal trade.
Ecologists and biologists conducted much of the early research on poaching and trafficking with a focus on species survival and habitat preservation. I approached the problem as a criminologist, that is, one interested in the causes of crime, the behavior of offenders and solutions. I provide a detailed description of poachers including their methods and motivations. I also examine the role of intermediaries in the illegal trade. These are the key actors who move the illegal wildlife products from poacher to retailers. They are involved in a range of activities including recruiting poachers, supplying firearms, paying bribes to government officials, and smuggling wildlife to the end user nations. Finally, I describe the consumer nations for wildlife since their demand for these products influences the market. The focus is mainly on markets in Africa, Asia and the European Union—all major destinations for African wildlife.
In a chapter on causes of this crime, I start with a description of the impact of game parks and game laws established during the colonial period in Africa on traditional wildlife use practices of indigenous populations. I also examine what occurred in wildlife conservation following the end of the colonial era when many African nations transitioned to self-rule. In this next section, I provide the reader with a review of the application of modern criminological theory to wildlife offenses. These include the contemporary work on data-driven anti-poaching efforts based on situational crime prevention theory.
In a chapter on policing wildlife, I describe those individuals charged with protecting wildlife: the game or field rangers in Africa. My book offers a description of how African rangers are recruited, selected, trained and how they operate in the parks. I also compare and contrast the public sector rangers working in the national parks with their private sector counterparts who work as security in the private game reserves and farms of South Africa. As a comparison, I write about the U.S. model of conservation officers and game wardens at the state level.
I would like the reader to come away with a sound understanding of the nature of this problem, the actors involved in this crime, and the threat it poses to wildlife in Africa. I want to reach a broad range of readers interested in wildlife conservation Besides university professors and graduate students, I also want this work to encourage undergraduate students interested in conservation to pursue a career in the field, and to serve as a foundation for other criminologists to build upon with their research.