Governments legislate against trade in wildlife yet the traffic in rare species is worth six billion dollars a year. Regulations forbid animal suffering in the food industry and cruelty in bloodsports is criminalised, but little is done to enforce the good intentions.

The only way to stop it is to go undercover, to recruit informants and to infiltrate the gangs: to go behind enemy lines.

With his SAS training and his talent for being accepted by his enemies, Terry Spamer gets close to the guilty and the corrupt, exposes them and places the evidence before the authorities – and us.

The first freelance undercover agent investigating organised animal crime, Terry tracks those trapping wild primates for laboratory use and wild birds for pets. He infiltrates dog-fighting rings and proves the appalling treatment of reindeer on their way to the low-fat meat counter. Animals are killed on camera for sexual gratification, and no animal is too rare for the bespoke taxidermist.

Gripping and moving, this page-turning book is an eye-opener to the cruelty that lives on in a ‘civilised’ world.