In The Whispering Land Durrell describes his adventures in obtaining wild life for his private zoo. When you think of a zoologist off in the back country searching for rare wild life thoughts come to mind of waterlogged rain forests and muddy swamps kind of like what you would see watching The Crocodile Hunter on PBS. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Durrell used a system in which he never got his hands dirty and was almost spoon-fed everything he needed.

Durrell's adventures started off in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was in this city where one of his toughest tasks took place, getting through customs. Once all of the busy paper work was completed Durrell was on his way to the backcountry. Durrell's first quest took him deep into the heart of South America where he was to

who has no money and is trying to provide for his family would have no choice but to turn to poaching to get food.

best to save wild animals while the other is doing their best to collect as many dead ones as they can. Poaching is obviously wrong; it is illegal and needs to be put to an end. If it continues at the rate at which it is going, one day I will sit and talk to my grandchildren about the animals that used to roam the land when I was young and in some cases he is not going to have any clue as to what I am talking about.

It was at this point, when Durrell was far from any known destination that I figured the action and thrills of the chase would take place. To my surprise the chase came to him. Instead of hunting with nets and tranquilizers, people from the depths of the country came forth offering beautiful rare animals. The first animal was a Red-Fronted Tucuman Amazon Parrot. At his first glance he knew that this exceptional bird was a necessity for his rare bird collection and would turn the heads of his competitors back home. An offering was made to the poor peasant that had offered this rare species and the deal was made (Durrell 129).

With the acquisition of all of these rare creatures the only work Durrell had to worry about accomplishing was to decide how much he wanted to rip off the poor peasants for their rare and beautiful animals. The friendly and courteous Brazilian community provided for most of the care the animals would need to undergo before their trip across seas.

The truth is, saving an animal from extinction is almost impossible by attempted breeding. For some animals the gene pool can be quite high, in turn inbreeding can cause disease and mutations, and the species can be so weakened that it would never be wild (Animals for Entertainment). Even when the problems of inbreeding can be overcome, there are still difficulties with the process of reintroduction. Problems such as learning to fly, build dens and raise their young are serious obstacles (Animals for Entertainment). Another problem that arises with zoos is that animals are not happy. Animals are denied the freedom of movement and association, which are very important to social animals and can cause a great deal of frustration and depression (Animals for Entertainment). While zoologists are trying to save the animals, what they are in fact doing is prolonging their life and filling it with worthless hours of living. This compares to poachers because the animal dies eithe!

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It is obviously hard to compare the work of a zoologist to that of a poacher. It is like comparing apples to oranges. One profession is working their

meet a guide in a small town called Jujuy, Argentina. This guide would turn out to be his ace in the hole. Helmuth, a weather beaten friendly middle aged Brazilian, would make all the arrangements and plans for the rest of the adventure. In South America the residents are know for their hospitality

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Approximate Word count = 2046
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)