Ivory trade.

[FuckingRotter]

Putting aside moral/ethical objections. Does an international ban on the sale of all ivory actually exacerbate the situation and put elephants at greater risk of being killed by poachers?

Would it not at least be more prudent to allow the trade of existing ivory objects?

Could ivory be farmed? In some parts of Africa, tuskers have their tusks removed to make them a less viable target for poachers. Would it make more sense to then sell the ivory openly in a registered market?

Is the global approach to the prevention of killing of elephants simply pushing up the price?

[somedude]

Yes, the current international approach to try and prevent elephant deaths is only driving up the price of illicit ivory! If legally obtained ivory could be traded and existing ivory objects could be legally bought and sold it would drastically lower the price of ivory on the black market and therefore help save elephants from poachers. Especially when you consider that in many parts of Asia elephants are domesticated animals and before the ban on the ivory trade their tusks were generally harvested when those valuable domesticated animals died of natural causes and could be legally sold to supply ivory to those who wanted it. Since the ban on the legal ivory trade was instituted the black market trade has flourished and more wild elephants have died as a result. The ban on the ivory trade is inherently stupid and bound up in do-gooderism and puts bullseyes on wild elephants!

[IvoryBeast]

i don't think its a bad policy.... I just don't think the general population cares. Its not to say they aren't nice caring people.... but lets face it, caring about the plight of wild elephants would serious cut into their cute cat video time on their iPhones.

If nobody cares about the diamond trade, Debeers, and the genocide in the Congo, why would they care about a ban on Ivory.