The illustrated “Protecting the Earth’s Animals” series is designed to provide middle school level readers an opportunity to understand the life-threatening factors that exist in our era. This title provides readers outstanding information about the ways human behavior has contributed to the planet’s most recent mass extinction event. A poached kills an African elephant every fifteen minutes. At this rate of slaughter, it is quite possible that by the 2024 there will be very few surviving wild elephants in Africa. Similar extinction probabilities exist for other African wildlife, including such iconic species as giraffes, rhinos, lions, and zebra. In Asia, the various indigenous tiger species all are endangered for many reasons inclusive of poaching. This well-written and poignant book presents the cold, hard facts about the impact of wildlife poaching, the economic factors that make illegal hunting so profitable, and cultural tendencies that create a market for wildlife poacher’s goods. It chronicles efforts being made by many nations to either reduce the ability of poachers to be successful or to close off the market for their illegal goods. At present it is debatable as to how effective anti-poaching initiatives will be, but to fail to make these efforts is unacceptable. In telling the story of wildlife poaching and interdiction efforts, Baily gives readers a great deal to ponder. As the author of this thought-provoking book notes, it is quite possible that many of the most amazing animal species in the world may cease to exist in the lifetimes of youngsters who read this fine book. Reviewer: Greg M. Romaneck; Ages 10 to 14.
