Zoos are places where animals are protected, kept safe from the ravages of the outside world and sheltered from extinction, right? Not necessarily, writes investigative reporter Alan Green, who takes his readers behind the bars in Animal Underworld to tell an unsettling tale of deception and cruelty.

That story opens at a zoo in northern Virginia, one of many such places around the United States in which black bears, once an exotic sight, have become a too-common commodity. Baby bears bring crowds, Green writes; unruly juveniles and listless adults do not. What happens to the bears who cannot contribute to the zoo's overhead? Animal sanctuaries are already overfull; individuals are not allowed to keep bears as pets without hard-to-obtain licenses; and bears raised in cages do not know how to fend for themselves in the wild. There is simply no place for them, Green writes, and the bears have economic worth only for their parts--the claws for jewelry, the flesh for restaurants, the paws for Asian apothecaries.

The nefarious means by which supposedly protected animals--many in danger of disappearing in the wild--are brought to market forms the heart of Green's disturbing report. Some of the country's most important zoos and museums turn up as villains in his pages, and readers will likely never visit such places again without wondering at the fate of the creatures that look out at them from the other side of the cage. --Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly
In a shocking and heartbreaking expos?, Green examines the fate of unwanted animals cast off by U.S. zoos and theme parks. Many of the nation's leading zoos, he reports, sell their unwanted animalsAwhether surplus, aging and decrepit, or babies bred for saleAto supposedly reputable dealers who, in turn, dump the animals onto roadside attractions, unaccredited petting zoos, private hunting parks and bogus sanctuaries that will hand over endangered species to anyone for a buck. Using easily doctored documents, the animals are laundered into obscurity, shunted from opportunistic breeders to wretched menageries, auctioneers, backyard hobbyists and even university research centers. Many of these animals, according to Green, suffer cruel abuse, mistreatment or fatal neglect; some end up as exotic meat on the grocery shelf. He also argues that zoos ignore their own edict by permitting animals to migrate almost uncontrollably into the hands of unaccredited institutions. Working with the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization, Green crisscrossed the country, combing thousands of health certificates and interviewing hundreds of people. He tracked smugglers and poachers who traffic in rare species disappearing from their native habitats, which are then sold to "exotic pet" owners. He takes aim particularly at the thousands of Americans who keep dangerous pets like tigers or cougars, inviting human tragedies. A major feat of investigative reporting, this book spells out sensible strategies to clean up this unholy mess, including a proposal that zoos should provide cradle-to-grave care to their denizens. Green's important, eye-opening report could spark a national debate. Photos. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Remember the last time you took a child to the zoo and cooed over the baby lion? Or the time you stopped at that roadside petting zoo and enjoyed feeding the deer and antelopes? Most of us have similar happy memories of summer afternoons spent observing animals in zoos and game parks. Unfortunately, there is a harsh reality that lies under the surface. Investigative reporter Green, with the support of the Center for Public Integrity, scratched that surface, and the result is this disturbing expos? of the trade in exotic and endangered species. Animals are "laundered," given false health certificates and new identities and provenance. They are sold at auction, ending up in canned hunts, nonaccredited and disreputable zoos, or in meat markets. They are dismembered, and their organs are used as aphrodisiacs. They are beaten, tortured, left to die of starvation or dehydration. This shocking book is an eye-opener that belongs in every collection.APeggie Partello, Keene State Coll. Lib., NH Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
You wouldn't want to be a member of the captive-bred wildlife population in this country, even in a zoo. Chances are, as investigative journalist Green carefully charts out, you would wind up in a small enclosure, there to be shot for ``sport.'' Exotic animals fascinate and delight us, and we are willing to pay to see our favorite charismatic fauna, the tigers and elephants and pandas. We enjoy the bizarre as well, the white-tailed gnus and the addax. We also like them young or very old, and zoos have found themselves with an overabundance of middle-aged animals: ``There is, in short, no place for them, and they are of real worth only when disassembled.'' Skins make rugs, paws are nibbled as delicacies; whole animals find themselves in everything from exotic-animal hunting operations to ratty, vermin-infested roadside/nightclub venues. Feel the urge to shoot a Nubian ibex? Got a couple grand? Done. Green (along with the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity, which examines public service and ethical issues) is able to flourish his pull-no-punches style because he has done the legwork, following the arcane and nearly invisible paper trails that cast a harsh light on such venerable establishments as the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and the San Diego Zoo, who rid themselves of unwanted, unprofitable inmates by selling them to unscrupulous dealers. Green makes it clear that heaven-sent sanctuaries like the Primate Rescue Center exist, though for each one of them there are legions of horrific places run by ethically impaired yahoos. Green also makes it clear why: captive-bred wildlife falls between the legal cracks, with the US Dept. of Agriculture only handling egregious animal welfare infringements and US Fish and Wildlife interested in international trafficking and the Endangered Species Act. No one is responsible for the captive breds, and few show any concern. What Green is talking about here is zoos long-term commitment to the welfare of the animals they breed. But that commitment doesn't pay, it costs, and profitsnot ethicsdrive the zoo business. (8 pages b&w photos) (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Book Description
A vast and previously undisclosed underground economy exists in the United States. The products bought and sold: animals. In Animal Underworld, veteran investigative journalist Alan Green exposes the sleazy, sometimes illegal web of those who trade in rare and exotic creatures. Green and The Center for Public Integrity reveal which American zoos and amusement parks dump their "surplus" animals on the middlemen adept at secretly redirecting them into the private pet trade. We're taken to exotic-animal auctions, where the anonymous high bidders are often notorious dealers, hunting-ranch proprietors, and profit-minded charlatans masquerading as conservationists. We visit some of the nation's most prestigious universities and research laboratories, whose diseased monkeys are "laundered" through this same network of breeders and dealers until they finally reach the homes of unsuspecting pet owners. And we meet the men and women who make their living by skirting through loopholes in the law, or by ignoring the law altogether. For anyone who cares about animals; for pet owners, zoo-goers, wildlife conservationists, and animal welfare advocates, Animal Underworld is gripping, shocking reading.

Book Info
Offers the definitive expose of the sleazy, sometimes illegal trade in exotic-and at times endangered-species. Documents exactly what happens after zoos and theme parks unload their surplus animals on secretive middlemen who redirect them into the private pet trade. DLC: Wild animal trade--U.S.

From the Author
The real turning point of my investigation into the trade in exotic animals came in late 1996, during a conversation with one of the few experts on the subject. After a year and a half of research, I had finally concluded that this was at its heart a story about laundering--a tale of how unwanted animals ("surplus," as they're called) owned by zoos, universities, and theme parks were sold and traded until their origins had been entirely obscured. That way, no one could identify with certainty the previous owners of an animal landing at an auction, a private hunting preserve, an exotic-meat butcher, or an abominable roadside attraction. The system of selling and reselling animals-- passing them like relay batons from one dealer to another--insulated everyone involved from being identified as a party to this sordid commerce. There was, in short, deniability for all. Because much of my previous work as an investigative reporter had relied heavily on documents, I assumed that the veil of secrecy, which had frustrated other journalists, could be punctured by piecing together records from across the United States. So in this late-1996 discussion, I posed a question: Couldn't the truth be revealed, I asked, by going to every state capital to search out records, then methodically following the paper trails from location to location? "No," I was told. "It's not feasible." "Why not?" I asked, certain that I had finally figured out a way to expose the well-guarded secrets of the exotic-animal industry. "Because you'd have to go to every state capital. And who the heck is going to do that?" A month later, I packed some maps and drove the first leg of what I soon came to think of as the Great Dome Tour.

About the Author
Alan Green is a veteran investigative reporter who was the founding editor of AlterNet, the news service for North America's alternative news weeklies. His reporting has won awards, including the Worth Bingham Prize for his work in New Republic magazine. The Center for Public Integrity, based in Washington, D.C., is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organizations that examines public service and ethics-related issues. Founded in 1989, the Center has completed more than thirty investigative reports, including the 1996 "Lincoln Bedroom" story profiling fundraisers and donors who had stayed overnight in the White House.

Excerpted from Animal Underworld: Inside America's Black Market for Rare Exotic Species by Alan Green. Copyright © 1999. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Bear cubs are a perennial fixture at Reston Animal Park, as they are at most of the nation's thousand-plus roadside zoos. Taken from their mothers at birth, the bottle-raised cubs are teddy bears come to life, making them a particular favorite of the park's younger visitors. The zebras and llamas and wandering deer are always paid attention by zoogoers, who line up at food-vending machines to buy handfuls of animal chow. But the cute, cuddly bears are the real crowd pleasers. Parents and their transfixed children ring the steel enclosure, hanging on the cubs' every moves. Feeding time is announced over the petting zoo's loudspeakers, bringing even more eager eyes to the rectangular cage. And twice a day a keeper straps the cubs into a harness and parades them before patrons, who surround the bears and press forward in hopes of running a hand across their fur. But the bears typically grow to seventy or eighty pounds by autumn's end, giving them a less crowd-pleasing, adult-like appearance and making contact with their keepers increasingly risky. As temperatures drop, those animals unable to survive the winter in the Washington, D.C. area are trucked by Reston Animal Park to Florida zoos. The once-vibrant park begins to feel eerily empty, as crowds become sparse and animals looking for handouts have nowhere to turn. Even the bears are shunned, left to stand on their hind legs and beg for attention from the occasional passerby, their front paws scraping the metal bars and their high-pitched moans, which resemble an infant's cries, going unnoticed. And then, suddenly, the bears are unceremoniously removed from exhibit, their departure never announced in advance. On Wednesday the male-female pair of black bears nervously pace their cage. On Thursday the cage is empty. Few patrons ever asked where the bears had come from, so they rarely inquire about their disposition. Those who do ask where they go are not always given truthful answers. This is the case not only at petting zoos like Reston, but also at the nation's larger, more respected municipal facilities, whose officials would prefer that the public never learns details of the animals' comings and goings. After all, where the dispossessed end up is the dirtiest, best-guarded secret of the nation's zoo community. Disclosure would reveal a sordid truth about the self-appointed stewards of rare and endangered animals: that their actions are in some instances contributing to the decline--rather than preservation--of species. Although zoos claim to offer safe haven for species threatened by poachers, human encroachment, and environmental devastation, they are in fact the very institutions that have fostered a system designed to secretly profit from the animals' exploitation, misery, even death. At Reston, for example, visitors were told that the petting zoo's bear cubs had come from a Wisconsin zoo and would be returned there at season's end. In truth, the cubs were the property of an exotic-animal dealer who has earned his living, in part, by providing black bears to an individual involved in slaughtering the animals for profit. This horrific commerce has been accomplished only with the tacit cooperation of zoo operators across the country.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This shocking investigative expos documents the big business of exotic animal trafficking, implicating leading zoos, wildlife parks, and dealers nationwide. of photos.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In a shocking and heartbreaking expos , Green examines the fate of unwanted animals cast off by U.S. zoos and theme parks. Many of the nation's leading zoos, he reports, sell their unwanted animals--whether surplus, aging and decrepit, or babies bred for sale--to supposedly reputable dealers who, in turn, dump the animals onto roadside attractions, unaccredited petting zoos, private hunting parks and bogus sanctuaries that will hand over endangered species to anyone for a buck. Using easily doctored documents, the animals are laundered into obscurity, shunted from opportunistic breeders to wretched menageries, auctioneers, backyard hobbyists and even university research centers. Many of these animals, according to Green, suffer cruel abuse, mistreatment or fatal neglect; some end up as exotic meat on the grocery shelf. He also argues that zoos ignore their own edict by permitting animals to migrate almost uncontrollably into the hands of unaccredited institutions. Working with the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization, Green crisscrossed the country, combing thousands of health certificates and interviewing hundreds of people. He tracked smugglers and poachers who traffic in rare species disappearing from their native habitats, which are then sold to "exotic pet" owners. He takes aim particularly at the thousands of Americans who keep dangerous pets like tigers or cougars, inviting human tragedies. A major feat of investigative reporting, this book spells out sensible strategies to clean up this unholy mess, including a proposal that zoos should provide cradle-to-grave care to their denizens. Green's important, eye-opening report could spark a national debate. Photos. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Remember the last time you took a child to the zoo and cooed over the baby lion? Or the time you stopped at that roadside petting zoo and enjoyed feeding the deer and antelopes? Most of us have similar happy memories of summer afternoons spent observing animals in zoos and game parks. Unfortunately, there is a harsh reality that lies under the surface. Investigative reporter Green, with the support of the Center for Public Integrity, scratched that surface, and the result is this disturbing expos of the trade in exotic and endangered species. Animals are "laundered," given false health certificates and new identities and provenance. They are sold at auction, ending up in canned hunts, nonaccredited and disreputable zoos, or in meat markets. They are dismembered, and their organs are used as aphrodisiacs. They are beaten, tortured, left to die of starvation or dehydration. This shocking book is an eye-opener that belongs in every collection.--Peggie Partello, Keene State Coll. Lib., NH Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Lori Valigra - The Christian Science Monitor

Green does justice to documenting the sad relationship between people and the animals they keep for pleasure. Unlike the horse in "Black Beauty," Green's animals rarely find a happy ending. Perhaps this book will help change that.

Kirkus Reviews

You wouldn't want to be a member of the captive-bred wildlife population in this country, even in a zoo. Chances are, as investigative journalist Green carefully charts out, you would wind up in a small enclosure, there to be shot for "sport." Exotic animals fascinate and delight us, and we are willing to pay to see our favorite charismatic fauna, the tigers and elephants and pandas. We enjoy the bizarre as well, the white-tailed gnus and the addax. We also like them young or very old, and zoos have found themselves with an overabundance of middle-aged animals: "There is, in short, no place for them, and they are of real worth only when disassembled." Skins make rugs, paws are nibbled as delicacies; whole animals find themselves in everything from exotic-animal hunting operations to ratty, vermin-infested roadside/nightclub venues. Feel the urge to shoot a Nubian ibex? Got a couple grand? Done. Green (along with the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity, which examines public service and ethical issues) is able to flourish his pull-no-punches style because he has done the legwork, following the arcane and nearly invisible paper trails that cast a harsh light on such venerable establishments as the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and the San Diego Zoo, who rid themselves of unwanted, unprofitable inmates by selling them to unscrupulous dealers. Green makes it clear that heaven-sent sanctuaries like the Primate Rescue Center exist, though for each one of them there are legions of horrific places run by ethically impaired yahoos. Green also makes it clear why: captive-bred wildlife falls between the legal cracks, with the US Dept. of Agriculture only handling egregious animalwelfare infringements and US Fish and Wildlife interested in international trafficking and the Endangered Species Act. No one is responsible for the captive breds, and few show any concern. What Green is talking about here is zoos' long-term commitment to the welfare of the animals they breed. But that commitment doesn't pay, it costs, and profits—not ethics—drive the zoo business. (8 pages b&w photos) (Author tour)