Reptile Smuggling
A few years ago, I read a news article about reptile smuggling, which gave me an idea for a story about reptile smuggling, but I put the story on hold when I realized that I didn't know enough about reptile smuggling. I didn't have much luck coming across the information I wanted either.
Two nights ago, I happened to find a book called The Lizard King. It was written by Bryan Christy, a freelance writer who has worked for Playboy and National Geographic.
The Lizard King is all about reptile smuggling. I read it in one night, fascinated by the story of Strictly Reptiles (a key player in the reptile smuggling trade), the illegal activities of zoos and several famous herpetologists (people who study amphibians and reptiles), and how similar — and often connected — animal smuggling is with the drug trade. The difference between dealing in drugs and animals is that the laws protecting animals are weak. Despite the Lacey Act and CITES, major animal smugglers often walk free with no more than a small citation or, at worst, a brief prison sentence. More often, they're never incarcerated, or only incarcerated after years. Lack of funding is largely to blame, but there are other factors as well.
I only had two major complaints about The Lizard King. The story told seems to end in the late nineties and the book was published in 2008, but there's no followup chapter or afterword to explain if and how environmental protection laws have changed since then. I'll be researching that on my own, but it seems like something that should have been included here. Also, the prose was a bit rocky. The story was so compelling that the prose didn't matter too much, but it definitely annoyed me at times, especially Christy's metaphors and human profiles.
Overall, I highly recommend The Lizard King to anyone looking for a quick non-fiction read on a disturbing, fascinating subject. The morning after I finished it, I told my fiance about it for a half hour without pause.
I look forward to finally writing the reptile smuggling story I've wanted to write for years. It'll blow Snakes on a Plane/Train out of the air and off of the tracks.
Last night I also started We Take Me Apart by Molly Gaudy. which has a charming fairy tale quality, and read The Killing Joke by Alan Moore. The Killing Joke was great, but Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum remains my favorite Batman comic (sorry Moore).
