Can Elephants Survive a Legal Ivory Trade? Debate Is Shifting Against It

news.nationalgeographic.com

10 points·richsinn··7 comments

Legal sources of ivory will only increase poaching.

We have problems with blood diamonds, do we really want to allow a legal market that involves the harvesting of living beings for luxury resources?

Unless we're talking buying 100,000acres and running a breeding operation (inseminating the females) and culling all the excess males I don't see this being remotely possible, and even if it was possible in a practical sense the morality issues outweigh all.

I can't even grasp why anyone needs something made of ivory. If your life is so devoid of meaning, and so full of money to waste on material excess... I actually just pitty you.

I wonder if a breeding operation would be profitable

If you could legally sell it, I'm sure it could be highly profitable. However, most Zoo's can't give a limited number of elephants adequate room. So I highly doubt a breeding operation would.

Yeah, but an ivory farm would have a lot more revenue than a zoo, no?

So…the folks who want to increase the power of the State doubt the probity of the officers of the State? That's hardly a consistent system of thought?

I'd prefer to see elephants farmed for their ivory. It's a uniquely beautiful substance and it's a pity that there's no legal way to use it, and a further pity that the ways to use it which do exist are harmful to the elephant population as a whole.

Or just make a 3D ivory printer and flood the market undercutting the poachers.

Reminds me of that old Cree Indian prophesy:

Only after the last tree has been cut down. Only after the last river has been poisoned. Only after the last fish has been caught. Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.

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