$20B illegal wildlife trade
Illegal wildlife trafficking is a roughly $20 billion-a-year global industry, ranking only behind guns, drugs, and human trafficking.
Where this was said
Eric Goode's Rattlesnake Bite: 36 Vials of Antivenom
At 12:11 · chapter starts 8:54
With Joe Rogan as the perfectly calibrated straight man, Eric Goode tells one of the most arresting personal stories in recent JRE history: hiking alone in the mountains north of LA, bushwhacking off-trail, when a rattlesnake he never saw buried its fangs in his foot through his river sandals. He felt the first metallic taste within 15 minutes, then over the next two hours, the sensation of sandbags crushing his chest — a neurotoxin slowly shutting down his respiratory system. [1] — Eric Goode "Eric Goode was hiking in the California mountains when a rattlesnake bit him through his river sandals. Over the next two hours he felt a m…" 03:20 The hospital ran out of all 36 vials of antivenom on hand and had to summon the Highway Patrol to race more in from Ventura while Goode lay on a gurney convinced he was dying. Jeremy McBride adds the capper: Goode was wearing Birkenstocks. The discussion spirals into a masterclass on venom biology — the difference between hemotoxins and neurotoxins, why young snakes have more potent but less voluminous venom, why the coral snake antivenom was discontinued as not cost-effective, and the proper response to a bite (stay calm, get to a hospital, don't cut and suck anything).
The $20 Billion Shadow Economy You've Never Heard Of
Most people think of wildlife crime as a niche issue. It's a $20 billion-a-year global industry, ranking fourth among all illegal trades. And reptiles are the perfect smuggling cargo: portable, quiet, and nearly impossible for overwhelmed customs agents to identify.
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