This post is also available in: French

« For years I have travelled throughout Asia to highlight the devastating impact of illegal trading of wild animals. I saw how the rarest species are hunted, trapped and killed to feed a worldwide black market. Researching this sort of trade reveals a shocking story of cruelty, crime and human greed. Its tentacles reach far throughout the world, from the most secluded forests of Asia to the black market hubs of Beijing, Bangkok, Londres, Tokyo and New York.

Unfortunately, there is still a lot of work to do because it is a booming business. However a coordinated political ripost is at last starting to take form : an extraordinary worldwide movement is bringing together people from diverse backgrounds with the aim of saving the most threatened species before it is too late. I hope that their efforts will not be in vain. »

Patrick Brown

The association Pour Que l’Esprit Vive, along with the FAIT & CAUSE gallery and the SOPHOT website, has been dedicated to social and environmental problems for the past twenty years with the aim of alerting public opinion and thus changing mentalities.

But we also work in favour of the defense of animals, and it is for this reason that we are showing the « Trading to extinction » exhibition. We want to proclaim the right to justice of those who cannot defend themselves (from human beings) and whose existence is increasingly threatened !

It must be said out loud and indeed repeated : it is a veritable shame for humanity that in the 21st century these sensitive beings (just like us) can continue to be treated as simple merchandise, used to satisfy passing whims, greed, lubies and fantasies !

Nothing can justify the mistreatment, suffering and cruelty to which they are subjected.  

We are therefore delighted to be able to show Patrick Brown’s work which highlights one of the most barbarous aspects of crimes against animals. With this exhibition we hope to defend the cause of our animal friends !

Christian Predovic

Asia 1999 – 2012

From the virgin forests of Cambodia to the big national parks in India and Nepal, pillaging of Asian wildlife is being practiced on a scale heretofore unknown. It is estimated that around 30.000 primates, 5 million birds, 10 million snakeskins and 500 tropical fish are traded every year.

For more than a decade, Patrick Brown has been following the illegal trade in Asia of animals threatened by extinction, photographing its traders, stocks, trading routes and markets. It is a massive industry of contreband, in which it is oftern only the poachers who are caught, even though they represent the tip of the iceberg of an illegal, complex and very profitable trading system.

According to ancient customs, certain animal parts are thought to have « magical » properties. For instance some people believe that eating tiger meat will make them stronger.

Rhinoceros horns have no medical virtues, but myths about their beneficial effects to health and their supposed aphrodisiac properties have driven their value up above that of gold.

It is impossible to determine the size of the market, but experts suggest that it comes to around 10 billion dollars a year. In India, a poacher who kills a rhinoceros for its horn will be paid around 350USD. The horn will be resold in the next town for around 1000USD but once it gets to Hong Kong, Beijing or the Middle East, it will be worth 370.000 USD. A kilo of tiger bones sells for as much as 700USD.

Worldwide illegal trade of wild animals has doubled since the nineties and the proof is all around : more than 100 million sharks are killed every year, there are more Bengal tigers in Texas than in the Bay of Bengal and elephants are starting to evolve with shorter tusks – or no tusks at all – as a reaction to poaching.

Patrick Brown is a laureate of the 3P Photographer Award, the World Press Photo Award, the Days Japan award, the Picture of the Year prize, the New York Photographic Book award and the NPPA Best of Photojournalism for his work on the subject of animal smuggling. His work has been shown in prestigious galleries and museums, such as the International Centre of Photography in New York, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography and in the Visa pour l’image festival in France. His photographs have been published in the international press : The New Yorker, TIME, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, National Geographic, Mother Jones, Stern Magazine, Der Spiegel Magazine, Marie Claire, New York Times, Aperture, GEO Germany, International Herald Tribune…

Represented by Panos Pictures since 2003, Patrick Brown continues to work on social themes, often ignored in today’s mainstream media.