AN ENVIRONMENTAL photojournalist from Leamington has compiled a book of powerful photographs and accounts of his exploration into human-animal conflict.
Aaron Gekoski has been documenting the plight of animals around the world for some years – from the habit destruction caused by the palm oil industry in Borneo, to shark finning in Mozambique and seal culling in Nambia.
And now Aaron, who has been based in Borneo for the past few years, has produced his first book, Animosity. It provides an insight to the exploitation and persecution faced by animals in some of the most inhospitable places on Earth.
Aaron told the Observer: “I’ve been wanting to write a book for a while, packed full of stories of human-animal conflict I’ve covered for the global media over the past decade. Covid offered the perfect opportunity to take stock and work on Animosity, a book I hope will inspire and educate. Receiving the first copies was very emotional – blood, sweat and tears have gone into compiling this content. The material might at times be hard to look at, but these are issues we can’t afford to turn a blind eye to.”
Readers can follow Aaron’s exploration of the dark heart of the wildlife tourism industry, as he lifts the lid on travelling circuses, elephant rides and animal performances, while in Tokyo, he spotlights the growing craze of ‘otter cafes’.
The book also includes his investigation into the underbelly of Cambodia’s dog meat trade, where rabid dogs are drowned in pits in order to satiate the growing appetite for dog meat.
The former model agency owner, left corporate life in 2009 to document ‘the beauty of the natural world’. Instead, finding wildlife under pressure from deforestation and humans seeking financial gain, he spent the next decade working undercover, writing about, filming, and photographing human-animal conflict.
The book can be ordered from animosity.cpsbooks.com for £8.99.
