It Takes More Than Luck to Catch the Elusive Geoduck Thief

i-11ea7ff7fff0464315bab71925754099-shell_games-thumb-326x491-48212-thumb-200x301-48214.jpgIt takes only one rogue in a million to wipe out a geoduck population, which becomes obvious in Craig Welch's newest book Shell Games. The illegal geoduck trade in the Puget Sound and the wildlife officers who track them make for an action packed story that brings the otherwise humble shellfish into rank with the excitement, profitability, and danger of drugs or arms dealings. Wildlife poaching and the markets that fuel it provide for a tale of action and tale of woe. The book is ripe for a screenplay (recall Adaptation, Charlie Kaufman's film about The Orchid Thief) but, until then, read the book.

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I was going to make a snarky comment about "geo-ducks" since, having spent a year near Puget Sound, I know it is pronounced goo-eee-duck and I figured you were letting your spell checker have its way with the language. Oops. I am wrong! First time. Ever. Honest. Thanks for the book recommendation.

Article in the Austin TX newspaper about more game wardens spending time surfing the net looking for offers of endangered species and the like. Apparently the Internet has really facilitated the illegal plant and animal trade.

By Jim Thomerson (not verified) on 04 May 2010 #permalink

I was not aware that this species of clam had joined the ranks of anti-social, criminal raping of our shared resources.

Sad.

Where does criminal, guilt free human behavior come from? It obviously seems that punishment, and legions of laws and policing does not deter this prolific human emotionless dis-ease.

Our humanity is missing something. Or maybe a better way to frame this, is that we Western minded, hyper-profit competitive oriented humanoids have somehow lost a part of our ability to nurture an essential, collaborative survival ingredient.

Without this ingredient, no matter how many governmental regulations we install and fund, or social policy awareness campaigns we launch, until we humans develop and nurture our most vital innate coding, none of our policy logic and reasoning matters, because the corruption will continue flourish like a real nasty virus.

The blackness of the heart and mind grows to consume our world with indifference as do our over crowded prisons and judicial systems we put in place to counter the obsessed ravaging of our shared world, and essentially each other.

Logic and reason, is nothing without empathy. Guilt mean nothing to those that are not able to feel. Punishment is but a temporal adjudication that means nothing for the eventual resumption of desires that dwell in insatiable wants that are formed without the capacity to feel.

Of course many will argue that humans are a tarnished species, and that being corrupt, selfish, violent and lawless is part of our DNA, our genetic survival coding, so we must continue to punish the beast within. We must continue to incarcerate the human wildness we have come to ignore because we somehow cannot tolerate the idea that maybe we are the causal developers, but instead claim that anti-sentient humanity is our price to pay, because that is the way it will always be and that is the way things are.

Law, is nothing without empathy. Change and a more evolved social connection to our world that is in sheer desperate need of connectivity means nothing without reflection and introspection.

By Chris Martell (not verified) on 06 May 2010 #permalink

My wife is reading now -- says it's great and also compared it to The Orchid Thief. I'll get my hands on it some day -- and I was the one who suggested it. :-)

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