I don’t get very much or any remorse. But everybody creates their own life myth or their own value system. So one of the things I try to do, and it takes me maybe triple the time it would otherwise take me, is to get the perspective of the other guy, of the trafficker or the collector of the illicit substance. In general, they have a very rational view of the world.

So, if they are a trafficker of endangered species, their responses can include: “If I don’t do it, somebody else will.” “I’m not the one who made them endangered. My marginal impact is tiny compared to whatever industrial process ruined their habitat, and that is on the shoulders more often than not of the people complaining about me. The same people who want their teak pool furniture are the ones who cut down the forests in Madagascar that made this chameleon rare. Why should I be penalized for them?”

I had one big trafficker say to me, “We’re all going to be extinct one day.” And, if you really extend that far enough, I get that too.