Formidable forces behind the illegal trade in rhino horn.

I am pleased to announce that my new book Murder, Myths & Medicine is now available. This very unique publication is the world’s first book to highlight the major events and findings of 2010′s rhino crisis.

Along with the fascinating subject matter and compelling facts (the book is based on this very blog), Murder, Myths & Medicine showcases an extraordinary collection of photos contributed by photographers from South Africa, Nepal, Zimbabwe, India, and Australia.

You can preview Chapter One below:

Murder, Myths & Medicine by Rhishja Larson |

If you would like to read chapter excerpts, check out the Murder, Myths & Medicine blogsite, and you can purchase the book here.

Please note that Murder, Myths & Medicine contains extremely graphic images.

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

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See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.

This month’s book is The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World’s Greatest Reptile Smugglers by Bryan Christy.

Book Summary: The Lizard King takes the reader on a thrilling journey into the heart of the reptile smuggling world.

Infamous animal trafficker Anson Wong – who was recently arrested in Malaysia – is just one of the real-life villains portrayed in this shocking organized crime exposé.

The book chronicles the intimate details of U.S. federal agent Chip Bepler’s global pursuit to track down and convict the kingpins of the world’s most notorious reptile trafficking syndicates.

Fighting an uphill battle against the traffickers’ exploitation of legal trade loopholes and forged paperwork, Agent Bepler is also at odds with a court system that seems at times to have little sympathy for the helpless, scaly victims of this organized crime subculture.

Why this book is important: The Lizard King is the ultimate example of how legal trade in rare and endangered species actually serves as a smokescreen for illegal trafficking.

Time and again throughout this book, we are shown the tricks and schemes that wildlife smugglers use to launder their illegal wares. The laws and systems designed to protect threatened species are tragically exploited, as customs agents and wildlife authorities at every level are corrupted by the lucrative rewards of illegal wildlife trade.

However, the book also tells an unforgettable story of determination and triumph – offering hope and heroes when we need them most.

Quotable moment:

Wildlife dealers, zoos, and museums all over the world knew that if they could pay for it, Anson [Wong] could get it for them. Africa, South America – it didn’t matter. Wong could get anything: snow leopard pelts, panda skins, rhino horns. He had operations in Vietnam. He raised tigers to be stuffed and sold as trophies.

Where to purchase The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World’s Greatest Reptile Smugglers

You can purchase The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World’s Greatest Reptile Smugglers online at Amazon.com.

Learn more about The Lizard King

To learn more:

• Bryan Christy’s website: thelizardkingbook.com
• National Geographic: The Kingpin
• Anson Wong’s arrest: No Perhilitan Protection for Lizard King

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

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See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.

This week’s book is Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution by Caroline Fraser.

Book Summary: Rewilding the World is an inspiring report from the front lines of the visionary conservation strategy known as rewilding, developed to protect species against the impending wave of human-caused extinctions. The concept of rewilding emerged following the realization that parks and protected zones are actually too fragmented and too small to offer a long-term solution to save species from extinction.

At the heart of rewilding are the “three C’s”: Cores, Corridors, and Carnivores.

Core protected areas enlarge habitat; corridors connect protected wilderness in order to allow migration and other forms of movement to prevent genetic bottlenecks; and carnivores – large predators or “keystone” species – regulate the ecosystem, ensuring stable relationships throughout the food chain.

Why this book is important: Rewilding the World is a call to action – with a blueprint. In great detail, the author covers the successes – and failures – of this visionary approach to conservation. The successes inspire us to leap into the revolution now – to start making a difference. The failures are also key: Mistakes serve as critical learning experiences and cautionary tales. One of the central themes is action. The leaders of the “rewilding revolution” are not choked by the bureaucracy, paperwork, and political bottlenecks that clog “business as usual” conservation methods (which, tragically, no longer seem to be working). Time and again, it is the unprecedented vision of small teams that has led to extraordinary accomplishments, such as Lewa’s Craig family and Area de Conservación Guanacaste ACG’s Dan Janzen. Rewilding the World compels us to answer the call – and join the revolution!

Quotable moment:

The biodiversity crisis, which presents us with dangers as profound and costly as climate change does, demands the creation of an equal and corresponding political will to act. The environment is the economy. No problem – not proverty, not climate changes, not the economic downturn – can be addressed without simultaneously restoring the systems that are life itself.

We must look to what is left of our planet. In rewilding, we have dreamed up the ways and means to keep it alive. Now, we must only connect.

Also notable is Dan Janzen’s decision to raise money for ACG without the help of NGOs:

“These NGOs were largely surviving on the fund-raising message of ‘help us save the tropical rain forest now before it is cut, because once cut, it is gone forever.’ We were told that the donor public was not sufficiently sophisticated to be able to handle both a conservation and a restoration message.”

Undeterred, Janzen set out to publicize his work and raise money without the aid of NGOs, presenting his elaborate, colorful stories about tropical species and their complex interactions. Later he would say, “I was told that it’s too complicated and a lot of people won’t understand it. Bullshit. They can understand it perfectly well.”

Where to purchase ‘Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution’

You can purchase Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution online at Amazon.com.

Learn more about ‘Rewilding the World’

To learn more:

• Rewilding the World website: rewildingtheworld.com
• Caroline Fraser’s website: carolinefraser.net

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

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See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.

This week’s book is The Return of the Unicorns: The Natural History and Conservation of the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros by Eric Dinerstein.

Book Summary: The Return of the Unicorns chronicles the recovery of the greater one-horned rhino population in Nepal during the mid-1990′s through early 2000′s, and proposes a blueprint for large mammal conservation in Asia, based on lessons learned in Nepal. The book also features a fascinating study of greater one-horned rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) evolution, biology and behavior – complete with detailed method appendices.

Why this book is important: The Return of the Unicorns is unique in that the author goes beyond sounding the alarm for the greater one-horned rhino (and Asia’s other large mammals) by mapping out innovative conservation strategies. He also discusses controversial conservation measures, such as relocation to habitats in industrialized nations and the Ex Situ/In Situ Debate. Part III of the book The Recovery of Endangered Large Mammal Populations and Their Habitats in Asia serves as inspiration for both emerging and seasoned conservationists searching for workable solutions for protecting the world’s remaining rhinoceros populations.

Quotable moment:

My experience in the conservation field, and Chitwan in particular, has taught me that business-as-usual practices in conserving large Asian mammals offer little braking power against the ongoing extinction crisis.

Many examples show us that we should never be satisfied with the status quo and instead work towards grander goals. In the world of conservation, as in the world of politics, Berlin walls do come down.

Where to purchase ”The Return of the Unicorns’

You can purchase The Return of the Unicorns: The Natural History and Conservation of the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros online at Amazon. Although this book retails for USD $75, used copies can be purchased at a reduced price.

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.

This week’s book is “100 Heartbeats: The Race to Save Earth’s Most Endangered Species” by Jeff Corwin.

Book Summary: 100 Heartbeats is a sobering portrait of endangered wildlife that is slipping away, silent victims of climate change, human overpopulation, habitat loss, pollution, exploitation, and poaching. In a global call to action, Corwin shares with us the plight of polar bears in the Arctic Circle, tigers in India, elephants, gorillas and rhinos in African countries, dolphins and alligators in China – and many more. 100 Heartbeats is a serious reality check – a warning that if we do not take action, more species will continue to be lost to extinction. The book’s title refers to critically endangered species and subspecies that have 100 or fewer individuals left.

Why this book is important: 100 Heartbeats is not comprised of the usual conservationist platitudes. Corwin’s well-placed outrage is palpable as he shares with us the disastrous toll that wanton human development, greedy industrial expansion and thoughtless propagation of the human species is taking on ecosystems in every corner of the world. He has taken a welcome risk at pointing the finger of blame squarely at us humans for the sorry state of our planet’s natural resources. But he also shares success stories – stories that would not be possible without dedicated people who made the decision to make a difference.

100 Heartbeats is a rallying cry to anyone who has ever wondered if it is too late: It is not too late – and you can start to make a difference today.

Quotable moment:

There’s little in life that’s more disturbing than the sight of a dead rhino flat on its side with a bloody hole in its head where its horn used to be. Or a gorilla that’s been reduced to little more than a stump, its hands and feet having gone the way of its dignity. Or an elephant that’s been stripped of its face and its once-mighty trunk – powerful enough to knock over a tree – to give poachers access to the bases of the tusks.

How can we reconcile the moral chasm that lies between a 5,000-pound rhino carcass and a few pounds of harvested horn? It’s difficult not to feel that all of humanity has let these animals down by failing to protect them from our species’ worst impulses.

Where to purchase ’100 Heartbeats’

You can purchase 100 Heartbeats: The Race to Save Earth’s Most Endangered Species online at Barnes & Noble.

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.

This week’s book is “The Soul of the Rhino: A Nepali Adventure with Kings and Elephant Drivers, Billionaires and Bureaucrats, Shamans and Scientists, and the Indian Rhinoceros” by Hemanta Mishra, with forewords by Bruce Babbitt and Jim Fowler.

Book Summary: The Soul of the Rhino is the uniquely personal journey of Hemanta Mishra, the native Nepali who, inspired by Yellowstone, helped create Chitwan National Park. Mishra tells us the personal story of his three decade mission to protect Nepal’s rhinos, from the riverine forests of Chitwan with his Tharu guide, to his epiphany at Yellowstone – and back to Nepal to build one of the world’s last havens for the greater one-horned rhino. A touching account of the early struggles between Nepali culture, politics, and rhino conservation science, The Soul of the Rhino is a unique and remarkable journey that is not be missed.

Why this book is important: The Soul of the Rhino is a real-life lesson in tenacity: How one man’s love and admiration for the greater one-horned rhino changed Nepal’s wildlife conservation strategy forever. Mishra’s gift to the reader is both touching and brutal, a source of inspiration proving that one person’s calling in life can be the catalyst for saving a species.

Quotable moment:

For me, the greatest challenge for conservation in Chitwan was linking human welfare to saving the rhino. Though my methods to face these challenges changed, my mission remained the same for three decades. How was I to help rhinos and humans live as good neighbors? How was I to make a live rhino worth more than a dead one? How was I to develop schemes that provided direct economic benefits to the local people? For wildlife managers these questions are still as valid today as they were thirty years ago and are applicable to all endangered species.

Hemanta Mishra’s Yellowstone ‘epiphany’

On the last day of my visit, I purified myself by sprinkling the chilly water of the Yellowstone River all over my body. Later in the afternoon I watched Old Faithful shoot a dense column of steam and water more than 150 feet up in the air. I prayed to the unseen and unknown deities of Yellowstone and said to myself, “If the Americans could do it in the nineteenth century, why can’t we, the Nepalese, do it in the twentieth century?”

In July 1972 I returned to Nepal to continue my work in building Nepal’s first national park in Chitwan.

Where to purchase ‘The Soul of the Rhino’

You can purchase The Soul of the Rhino: A Nepali Adventure with Kings and Elephant Drivers, Billionaires and Bureaucrats, Shamans and Scientists, and the Indian Rhinoceros online at Amazon.com.

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.

This week’s book is “Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink” by Dr. Jane Goodall.

Book Summary: Hope for Animals and Their World is really a call to action disguised as a book! A call to action in the form of an incredible collection of inspiring success stories – shining examples of dedicated people working tirelessly to help bring endangered species back from the very edge of extinction. Just a few of the imperiled species profiled in the book include the California condor, Prsewalski’s horse, Iberian lynx, golden lion tamarin, and the Sumatran rhino.

Why this book is important: Hope for Animals and Their World could not have come at a more critical moment. Time is running out for an unprecedented number of species, creatures that have no voice to speak up against the barrage of deadly threats we humans have set upon them. Thankfully, Dr. Goodall once again offers encouragement to each and every one of us: It’s not too late for us to take action – we can make a difference in this world.

Quotable moment:

It is this – this link between the human being and the other animals with whom we share Planet Earth, this connection we can establish with another life-form – that for many makes it possible to carry on. To carry on with work that can be so hard, carry on despite the frustrations and setbacks, and sometimes the outright hostility or ridicule of those who believe that to save any species from extinction is sentimental and a waste of money and resources

But they cannot do it alone, these Keepers of the Planet. To save Planet Earth, each of us who cares must become involved in protecting and restoring the wild places and the animals and plants that live there.

Where to purchase ‘Hope for Animals and Their World’

You can purchase Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink online at Amazon.com.

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.

This week’s book is “Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn: The Destruction of Wildlife for Traditional Chinese Medicine” by Richard Ellis.

Book Summary: Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn examines the atrocities inflicted upon wildlife populations to satisfy demands for “traditional Chinese medicine” (TCM). Factual evidence gleaned from TRAFFIC surveys and reports, grim personal accounts, and numerous historical references paint a horrifying picture of what is to come if endangered species continue to be plundered in the name of medieval Chinese “remedies”.

Why this book is important: Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn: The Destruction of Wildlife for Traditional Chinese Medicine is a sobering examination of where Chinese superstitions and myths about supposed “powers” of animal consumption are taking our natural world. The most frightening implication of this book is that it contains decades (decades!) of warning signs pointing to the impending extinction of species prized in traditional Chinese medicine. It is shocking to consider that this book is now five years old – and the destruction of wildlife for medieval Chinese “tonics” continues unabated.

Quotable moment:

The Sumatran rhino is so close to extinction that the removal of a single animal brings them that much closer to the edge. They were brought to this precipice by poachers who hunted them for their horns and by loggers who destroyed their habitat. An October 2003 report that Myanmar’s hardwood forests are being liquidated by Chinese timber companies from neighboring Yunnan Province does not bode well for the remaining rhinos there.

Will the Sumatran rhino become the first animal to disappear completely because of traditional Chinese medicne?

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species notes that Sumatran rhinos are now “possibly extinct” in Myanmar.

Where to purchase ‘Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn: The Destruction of Wildlife for Traditional Chinese Medicine’

You can purchase Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn: The Destruction of Wildlife for Traditional Chinese Medicine online at Amazon.com.

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.

This week’s book is “Black Market: Inside the Endangered Species Trade in Asia” by Ben Davies.

Book Summary: Black Market: Inside the Endangered Species Trade in Asia is a shocking portrait of the plundering of endangered species destined for Asia’s illegal wildlife markets. Asia’s insatiable appetite for endangered wildlife products, combined with the region’s relentless population growth have forced rhinos, tigers, and elephants (and countless others) to the very edge of extinction.

Illustrated with extremely graphic photos that will forever haunt the reader’s mind, this book is a comprehensive examination of the economic forces behind the well-funded organized crime syndicates responsible for fulfilling Asia’s unsustainable demand for wildlife products – the human greed behind the senseless slaughter of hundreds of thousands of our planet’s most endangered animals.

Why this book is important: Black Market: Inside the Endangered Species Trade in Asia goes where most other books do not. Instead of making “politically correct” excuses for Asia’s – especially China’s – role in pushing thousands of species to endangered status in the first place, Black Market exposes the horrifying effects that long-standing Asian cultural myths and superstitions are having on our fragile wildlife populations. Thankfully, the author also provides us with a glimmer of hope by including conservation success stories – and introducing us to heroes who are bravely fighting the battle against the illegal trade in endangered species.

Quotable moment:

The trafficking routes, however, led beyond Taiwan to Guangzhou, a sprawling city of 6 million inhabitants in southern China. In the White Swan Hotel on the outskirts of town, Galster and his Taiwanese assistant Rebecca Chen, first made contact with men whose aim was to drive the rhino to extinction.

“The smugglers believed that if the rhino became extinct, the price of rhino horn could easily have doubled,” says Galster, who posed as a wealthy South African buyer of rhino horn. “This was a calculated attempt to corner the market using horns from one of the most valuable and endangered species on earth.”

Galster learned that senior government officials were involved at every level of the operation.

Where to purchase ‘Black Market: Inside the Endangered Species Trade in Asia’

You can purchase Black Market: Inside the Endangered Species Trade in Asia online at Amazon.com.

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.

This week’s book is “Animal Investigators: How the World’s First Wildlife Forensics Lab is Solving Crimes and Saving Endangered Species” by Dr. Laurel Neme.

Book Summary: Animal Investigators is a groundbreaking, behind-the-scenes study of how forensic scientists are helping protect endangered species by using science to solve illegal wildlife trafficking crimes. In three real life endangered species court cases, the author takes readers on an extraordinary underground journey into organized crime and explores the underlying economic forces driving the world’s third largest illegal market.

Why this book is important: Animal Investigators illuminates the “unsung heroes” of the wildlife crime world: Scientists and investigative agents who work tirelessly in anonymity to convict illegal wildlife traffickers and dealers of their crimes against the environment. The book raises awareness of the enormous scope of the illegal wildlife trade – which is responsible for the destruction and plundering of the world’s endangered species.

Quotable moment:

Recent DNA analysis of massive illegal elephant ivory shipments (6.5 tons seized in Singapore in 2001 and 3.9 tons confiscated in Hong Kong in 2006), conducted by a team headed by Dr. Samuel Wasser, director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington (with help from the lab), showed that the ivory came from closely related elephants from specific localities (eastern Zambia for the Singapore seizure and a small section of eastern Gabon and neighboring Congo for the Hong Kong one).

The results showed that, rather than collecting ivory from disparate sources as was previously thought, organized gangs filled “purchase orders” by targeting whole herds at particular sites. That information will help antipoaching units center their patrols on precise geographic areas and allow agents to monitor little-known but well-worn smuggling routes.

Learn more about ‘Animal Investigators’

Learn more about Animal Investigators: How the World’s First Wildlife Forensics Lab is Solving Crimes and Saving Endangered Species and purchase the book at laurelneme.com

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.