Killing for Profit: Exposing the Illegal Rhino Horn Trade

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About Killing For Profit: Exposing The Illegal Rhino Horn

Product Description A terrifying true story of greed, corruption, depravity and ruthless criminal enterprise . . . On the black markets of Southeast Asia, rhino horn is worth more than gold, cocaine and heroin. This is the chilling story of a two-year-long investigation into a dangerous criminal underworld where merciless syndicates will stop at nothing to attain their prize. It is a tale of greed, folly and corruption, and of an increasingly desperate battle to save the rhino - which has survived for more than 50 million years - from extinction.  Killing for Profit is a meticulous, devastating and revelatory account of one of the world's most secretive trades. It exposes poachers, gangsters, con men, mercenaries, killers, gunrunners, diplomats, government officials and other key players behind the slaughter. And it follows the bloody trail from the front lines of the rhino wars in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to the medicine markets of Vietnam and the lair of a wildlife-trafficking kingpin on the banks of the Mekong River in Laos . . . Review Killing for Profit by Julian Rademeyer is an eye-opening and horrifying two year investigation into the poaching and trafficking of rhinoceri, which threatens to make these mammals, which have survived on earth for over 50 million years, and extinct species. Southeast Asia pharmaceutical markets are the ones buying these prized horns, and they are paying prices higher than gold or cocaine or heroin! And who besides the poachers are involved in these criminal slaughters of the near-sighted, helpless beasts? There are greedy syndicates who use gangsters, con men, mercenaries, killers, poachers, gunrunners, crime bosses and even diplomats and government officials (bribed enormously under the table.) The countries fighting this trade are South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, but the war against these corrupt, money hungry thugs makes dangerous conditions for those seeking to stop the atrocities against rhinos, all because the Asian population believes the horns are aphrodisiacs! For centuries the Asian people have believed that powdered rhino horns would cure everything from hang-overs to cancer, and although modern science has disproved this, the people still want to buy it, so Asian pharmaceutical companies and shops keep it in stock, resulting in thousands of rhinos being systematically slaughtered each year. The new rich in these countries don't care how much it costs or that it is illegal and still believe in not only the medicinal qualities but also want the horn to display as a prized status symbol of wealth. So sad, but the book is intriguing to see how far people will go either to destroy or save a species, which is irreplaceable on this earth! About the Author JULIAN RADEMEYER is an award-winning investigative journalist who, for nearly 20 years, has written and worked for City Press, Beeld, The Witness, the Sunday Times, Pretoria News, The Herald, Reuters, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Associated Press (AAP). Until recently he was chief reporter for Media24 Investigations. He has reported from a number of countries, including Somalia, Equatorial Guinea, Niger, Mozambique, Namibia, Belarus, India, Egypt and the Lebanon, where he covered the 2006 ‘Summer War’. He has won a number of awards, notably the 2005 Vodacom Journalist of the Year award for print news and the 2009 Mondi Shanduka Newspaper Award for hard news. He has twice been a finalist for the Taco Kuiper Award, South Africa’s leading investigative journalism prize. His work has been published in two books: Troublemakers: The Best of South Africa’s Investigative Journalism and the BY Bedkassieboek, a compilation of the best of Afrikaans newspaper writing. He lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.