Patrick Brown . Day by day, hour by hour, our planet's rarest creatures are being hunted, trapped and slaughtered to feed a global black market in wildlife products. This is my attempt to expose that trade. I could use your support. For years, I have traveled across Asia to document the devastating impact of wildlife trafficking. Now I'd like to bring my work to a worldwide audience, by producing a campaigning photographic book called "Trading to Extinction." It is a shocking tale of cruelty, crime and human greed. As with drug trafficking, money fuels the animal trade. Its tentacles wrap around the world, from the remote forests of Asia to the trafficking hubs of Beijing, Bangkok, London, Tokyo and New York. A poacher who kills a rhino and removes its horn in India gets $350. That same horn sells for $1,000 in a nearby market town. By the time it reaches Hong Kong, Beijing or the Middle East, the horn is worth $370,000. Tiger bones are worth up to $700 per kilo. This trade is flourishing. But the fightback has begun. An extraordinary worldwide movement is bringing together people from diverse backgrounds in a bid to save our most endangered species before it is too late. "Trading to Extinction" will tell their stories, too. By ordering the book "Trading to Extinction," you are not just funding a photographic project. You're pre-ordering a landmark photographic book. The images will be accompanied by a personal introduction by Ben Davies, which takes the reader through a first hand experience of the seedy world of the illegal wildlife trade, as well as efforts to stop it. You will be helping to produce a powerful campaigning tool. I want to get copies of this book into the hands of people who can make a difference. Together, we can raise public and political awareness of how rapidly our endangered species are vanishing and why the issue needs the world's urgent attention. To make this project become a reality, please visit http://www.emphas.is/web/guest/bookproject?projectID=482  and help bring this terrible trade to an end. Thank you Trading to Extinction by Patrick Brown A stuffed tiger in the coastal town of Phan Thiet in Vietnam. 2007 Chitwan National Park, Nepal.  A large, 50 year old, bull elephant sits in leg chains. Elephants are used by the Royal Nepalese Army to patrol the Park for poachers. This elephant is restrained as it has killed five of its handlers in its lifetime. A boat from the National Cambodian Forestry Department patrols a river in the Koh Kong area. The team looks mainly for small boats that poachers would use for hunting and for the transportation of wildlife. The forestry department is trying to stop the trade of wildlife between the hills and the lowlands. Bharatpur, Chitwan National Park, Nepal 2004.  At the Bharatpur barracks a Royal Forestry Department Officer holds a rhino skull. The stockpile of items is 5 years old and the value is an estimated $750,000 USD. At dawn a small group of Royal Nepalese solders patrols on elephant in the Chitwan National Park; elephants are used bescause their height; be able to see over the 13-15 foot elephant grass to see poaching activities. A stuffed tiger in the coastal town of Phan Thiet, Vietnam. 2007 A Chinese man selling whole and parts of reptiles for medicinal purposes in the south east Chinese city of Dali. People tormenting and feeding a bear at the Rangoon zoo. At a bear farm in Hanoi, Vietnam. After tranquilisation, the bear is taken out of its cage in order to have the bile removed from its gall bladder. At a restaurant in Hanoi, a snake is shown to a group of people who have chosen it for their lunch. It will be cut open and its heart, blood and bile removed. All of these are then consumed and it is believed that this will increase sexual libido. Scotland Yard, London, England.  Inside Scotland Yard's animal protection unit, an officer displays a tiger's head seized during a raid in London. At a restaurant in Hanoi, a turtle has its head removed and the blood and bile collected. The blood and bile are then drunk and the remainder of the turtle is cooked for consumption. Kasara, Chitwan National Park, Nepal.  The Kasara Royal Nepalese Army barracks is the headquarters for the battalion in charge of Chitwan National Park. Two poachers stand outside the Kasara military prison. In a shop window that sells animal products, are small and large tiger and monkey skulls, deer horn and many other wildlife products.  The town of Thakhilek (Thailand- Burma border) is a staging post for the smuggling of poached animals. A Laotians ranger on a six day poaching patrol in Bokeo Nature Reserve, in northwestern Laos. The Bokeo Nature Reserve is rich in biodiversity, birds, insects, and mammals including populations of black gibbons, bears, tigers, and migrating populations of wild buffalo and elephants. A poacher being photographed and questioned by members of the National Cambodian Forestry Security in the Bokor National Park.  The poacher has his name and the nature of his crime written on the board around his neck. MARCH 2012 BACK ISSUE Back to current issue