Stolen World: A Tale of Reptiles, Smugglers, and Skulduggery by Jennie Erin Smith is a page-turning historical account of the most notorious reptile smugglers in the United States. Many of the stories in Stolen World are derived from first-hand accounts provided by a core group of old-school smugglers, most notably Hank Molt and Tom Crutchfield. I was shocked at how open these folks were about their practices, particular given that some of them are still actively collecting, importing, and selling rare reptiles. Indeed, some of the book’s primary subjects now seem to regret their decision to share so much with Smith (I’ll return to this point later).
Although _Stolen World_ never mentions anoles, it does contain insights that are likely to be of interest to any practicing field herpetologist. The smugglers, for example, recounted to Smith numerous instances in which they posed as academics or zoo personnel to gain permission to collect and export of rare reptiles from various countries around the world. As an anole biologist who works in the Dominican Republic, I was particularly troubled by Smith’s account of a Tom Crutchfield-led expedition to the Dominican Republic that set out to collect a red morph of the Hispaniolan ground boa (Epicrates striatus). According to Smith, Crutchfield was set to pay the Santo Domingo zoo for the required CITES permits before donating blood samples to the University of Florida for systematic analyses. According to Smith, however, Crutchfield’s real ambitions were primarily self-serving. Not only was Crutchfield intent on having any new species or subspecies named after himself, but he also hoped to sell the snakes he caught for upwards of $40,000.
Let me be clear here about two things. First, Crutchfield has publicly challenged the veracity of Smith’s stories about him (see below); although his reasons for doing so may be motivated more by the desire to preserve his good name than his interest in ensuring that real truth be told, we must nevertheless acknowledge the possibility that this trip wasn’t as shady as Smith makes it seem. Second, I have no objection to herpetoculture or to commercial import and export of reptiles as pets, food or even clothing. My problem is with the notion that efforts to conduct collaborative scientific projects or conservation initiatives with foreign governments might be unnecessarily complicated by the practices of a few unscrupulous reptile hobbyists or commercial dealers.
Smith often portrays the smugglers in her book as self-absorbed cheats and outlaws. At the same time, however, I didn’t find her entirely unsympathetic to her story’s anti-heroes and think she handled her subjects about as objectively as could be expected. Smith seemed primarily interested in telling a good story, and has certainly succeeded in doing so. Through his Facebook page and other public outlets, Tom Crutchfield has responded with complaints that Smith is “anti-herpetoculture,” “an animal rights activist,” and “the most evil person I’ve met bordering on being a psycopath.” While the stories she tells certainly paint an unflattering portrait of some reptile hobbyists, I never detected an effort to impune herpetoculture or to promote an animal rights agenda. Crutchfield also suggests that Smith took advantage of his friendship by distorting the truth and portraying himself and the book’s other subjects “in the worst possible light.” The back and forth between Smith and Crutchfield makes for interesting reading in its own right, but the whole episode is eminently more entertaining when you sprinkle a mix of herpetoculturist into the conversation.
Crutchfield’s Facebook posts led to an online conversation that includes more than 25 pages of comments at the Bush League Breeders Club (BLBC). This conversation includes comments from both Smith and Crutchfield.
Initially the posters at the BLBC largely parroted Crutchfield’s view that Smith’s book portrays herpetoculturists in an unfair and overly negative light. Before anyone but Crutchfield had even seen her book, Smith is called a “scumbag” who is guilty of “abominable and detestable crimes against the herp industry.” When Smith steps in to defend herself, the Bush-League crew ramp up the vitriol by taking their comments directly to the toilet. Commenters say she’s “full of shit,” call her book a “piece of crap” and tell her to take her “crap book and shove it missy!” (again, it should be noted, before any of them have even laid eyes on the book). Curiously, the most vulgar commenter must actually be commended for his moderation; after writing “I better not say what I would like to say to you,” a BLBC member named boarama goes on to say that if “I ever see a copy of your book, I’m going to pull my pants down, and crap all over it. And I will use a page with your name on it, to wipe my butt. Have a nice day.” Another response to Smith – “Here’s blunt for ya…F@ck off” – was greeted with strings of emoticons that included beer glasses clinking and smily faced icons grinning madly, giving thumbs-ups, writhing on the ground laughing, doing “we’re not worthy” bows, or head-banging with their devil horns. For having the nerve to defend herself, Smith is also called a “loathsome little troll wench” and a “right wing tree hugger” (thankfully one of the other scholars at Bush-League correctly points out the tree-huggers are generally on the left). Another commenter who hasn’t read the book even goes so far as to fabricate an entire agenda for Smith: “She is trying to destroy this industry/hobby by destroying the persona of snake breeders/keeps as a whole. If she can convince the viewing public we are all social ingrates just waiting for a chance to butcher little kids and feed them to our evil pets, we will eventually lose our rights to keep our animals because the public will fear us more than they are already do.”
Crutchfield himself eventually enters the fray at BLBC, but quickly loses his opportunity to gain the moral high ground by using his first post to belittle the physical stature of one of the forum’s few Crutchfield detractors. When he takes on Smith, Crutchfield devotes his attention to seemingly trivial factual inaccuracies concerning the number of Burmese pythons imported to the US and to an episode that may not have been as shady as Smith made it out to be. Encouraged by Crutchfield’s presence, the commenters at BLBC continue to lay into Smith and anyone who has the nerve to defend her.
Suffice it to say that Smith didn’t do nearly as much as these BLBC members have done to besmirch the good name of herpetoculturists. Look no further than this conversation if you’re looking to support the notion that some herpetoculturists are vulgar and ill-tempered malcontents.
- JMIH 2014: Early Records of Fossil Anolis from the Oligocene and Miocene of Florida, USA - August 13, 2014
- JMIH 2014: Relative Contribution of Genetic and Ecological Factors to Morphological Differentiation in Island Populations of Anolis sagrei - August 7, 2014
- JMIH 2014: The Ultrastructure of Spermatid Development within the Anole, Anolis sagrei - August 5, 2014
Jonathan Losos
This reminds me of a trip to the island of St. Lucia 20 years ago. When we arrived at the permit agency’s office, after having sent all the requisite permit requests well in advance, we received a very frosty welcome. Things actually were quite tense for a while (and remember that all we were asking for was permission to collect a handful of the native, quite abundant, anole). Finally, the truth came out. A year earlier, collectors posing as scientists had received permission to collect a number of snakes, and word had gotten back to authorities that those snakes had been sold in the pet trade for a handsome profit. As a result, they were extremely dubious of anyone purporting to be a scientist.
Daniel Scantlebury
Glad to see a review of this book. FYI, Crutchfield was selling red boas as recently as last year for hundreds (thousands?) of dollars.
I’ll have to read Smith’s account of the zoo-acquired paperwork, but my understanding of what transpired is that a bad apple soured the lot.
alexiss
I also recently read this book, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in this subculture. I thought the portrayal of hobbyists was actually very sympathetic – even the villains in this story were portrayed as passionate and knowledgeable herpetologists, and their misadventures were somewhat glamorous (if shady). Smith pointed out numerous times that most collectors and hobbyists are law-abiding and ethical in their practices, and that captive animals can be important ambassadors for conservation. In fact, the most surprising thing to me in this book was the extent to which zoos and museums were often complicit in illegal collecting, at least before national accreditation programs became standard.