African Wildlife & Environment Issue 78

GOOD READS

illegal trade is enormous, and the book tells the story, based on fact but with fictitious names, of a young man who captures a pangolin in Zimbabwe and travels to Johannesburg to sell it to a trader for a considerable amount of money that would sustain his family for some time. But he is caught in a 'sting' operation and he and his accomplices are destined to spend a long time in prison. The pangolin is cared for by dedicated veterinarians, rehabilitated and returned to a protected are in South Africa. The book covers many bases, from the ineffectiveness of CITES in providing any protection for pangolins, to Richard Peirce's own visit to Southeast Asia to see the markets where pangolin body parts are illegally traded. He also visited a research programme in the Tswalu Game Reserve, and provides much information about these fascinating animals and the terrible pressure they are under because of human indifference and greed. This book is highly recommended to readers who care about conservation and animal welfare, as most of us do.

Pangolins Peirce, Richard (2021). Pangolins – Scales of Injustice. Struik Nature, an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Cape Town. Soft cover, 15x21 cm, 40 pp, illustrated in colour throughout with photographs and diagrams. ISBN 978-1-77584 -712-0. R206. This is an interesting but disturbing book. It is a mixture of fiction and fact and provides an insight into the plight of pangolins and the people who are trying to prevent the cruel trade in pangolins and their body parts. The book opens with the words of Lisa Hywood, who runs an animal rescue facility in Zimbabwe: "I opened this sack and inside, this one eye – and I remember it as distinctly as if it was happening right now – this one eye looked at me, through me, in me and around me. This one eye and time froze for me and I was in that moment humiliated, ashamed and saddened that I was a human being. It was horrendous and it was as if a knife went through my heart; how could we as an intelligent species allow this to happen? I have had a lot to do with many animals, especially elephants, but this was an animal that spoke more volumes in silence, with one look, than any other animal I have ever had an interaction with." More than 97 tons of illegally shipped scales of African pangolins were intercepted being exported to Asia in 2019. An estimated 1,900 animals are killed for one ton of scales, extrapolating to 160,000 pangolins killed for these intercepted shipments in 2019. And how many tons of scales left Africa undetected? Pangolins are today one of the most trafficked wild animals on earth, with one kilogram of scales estimated to be worth 3,000 US dollars. The pressure on impoverished rural Africans to try to procure pangolins for sale into the

Zimbabwe dreams Nott, Colin (2020). African Daydreaming. Colin Nott and Genesis Publishing. A self-publishing imprint of Ocean Reeve Publishing. www.oceanreevepublishing. com. Soft cover, 15x23 cm, 295 pp, B&W photographs. ISBN 978-1-92246 -142-1. Distribution by Protea Distribution; promoted by Helco Promotions (contact Helen Holyoake at helen@helco.co.za.) R320. Colin Nott was born in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1969. He enjoyed a privileged childhood, where the Zambesi Valley became his school holiday playground, and awakened the wildlife calling in his life, following his father

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