Posted on 11/17/2013 5:53:08 AM PST by Kaslin
Here's an interesting video of the US taking 6 tons of confiscated ivory to Africa to crush it. The purpose was to "send a message" to poachers.
The entire worldwide elephant population is 500,000. They are vanishing at a rate of 50,000 per year, just for their ivory.
A couple of people sent me this video, Reader Michael was first.
Link if video does not play: U.S. crushes 6 tons of confiscated ivory to send message to poachers
Africa's elephants are being slaughtered at a record pace by poachers who hope to get rich by selling their ivory tusks.
The U.S. has been trying to stop it. And today the feds sent a powerful message -- by gathering all the ivory they have seized in the past quarter-century and bringing it to a wildlife refuge in Colorado.
Where millions once roamed free across Africa, the numbers of elephants have plummeted because of poaching to about 500,000.
Poaching was the source of six tons of illegal ivory confiscated by U.S. officials, from raw tusks to exquisitely carved statues.
Robert Ruggiero, who runs the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's anti-poaching effort in Africa, says the poachers will stop at nothing to get the ivory tusks. "Even poachers who are killed are readily replaced. There's an endless supply of people willing to take those risks," Ruggiero said.
The soaring demand comes mostly from newly rich Chinese, who see ivory as a status symbol. A pound of ivory now sells for more than $1,000 on the streets of Beijing.
The Math
1 ton = 2,000 pounds
6 tons destroyed
Street price = $1,000 pound
6 * 2,000 * $1,000 = $12,000,000
$12 million dollars is not a lot to the U.S. But it is a lot to Kenya.
Carved Ivory
Carved ivory is surely worth a lot more than raw ivory. 10 times more? I don't know.
Unfortunately there was no breakdown of how much carved ivory was crushed, but the video showed rooms of it being boxed for destruction. For the sake of argument, let's just assume the entire lot could have fetched $50 million at auction.
I have a simple question: What if instead of crushing that ivory, the US auctioned the ivory with all proceeds going to African nations for anti-poaching efforts?
How many people could Kenya have hired for $50 million? Wouldn't that have done more for the elephants than crushing it?
Woolly Mammoth ivory is unearthed all the time in Alaska and Siberia. It is legal to sell and trade since the woolly mammoth is not an endangered species. Though the tusks look different, it’s very hard to tell if a carved object was made from elephant ivory or wooly mammoth ivory.
Extending your idea, have elephant ranches. Every so often, tranquilize an elephant, trim off the end of his tusks, sell the ivory, use the money to pay for guards.
Have the local government declare the elephant preserves to be free-fire zones, wherein any trespassers may be shot on sight. I'm sure they could even sell tickets to some people to be "poacher hunters", with the right to hunt down and kill poachers for sport.
All this does is make the next batch of ivory of greater value. I just read the long CNN article on Ted Turner. The man has a lot to answer for but he did bring the bison back from extinction. He made them profitable. I’ve long believed that the way to save the elephant is to harvest the ivory and try to somewhat domesticate the beast. The day of massive herbivores roaming the romanic plains is over. Instead, encourage them to live in certain areas and market their ivory to pay the cost. I haven’t worked out how you convince the huge bull elephants to let us cut off their tusks but I’m sure that there’s some way to do that. LOL
Elephants managed on private ground with the owners allowed to raise them for ivory would get adequate protection from poachers.
Sounds like the actions of some 7th century cult. You know, the ones who couldn't build the Trade Towers, so in anger they destroyed them.
Lemmie see, now................
Destroying “product”............
Decreases demand??? Reduces supply??? Mr. Friedman, call your office.
The US Federal Government is a hammer and everything and everyone in the world looks like a nail. This government does nothing with finesse.
“When the supply is dramatically diminished, what is likely to happen to the value of the remaining product? I wonder if the poachers have done the math.”
Exactly. This is startlingly similar to the gun destruction of gun “buy backs”.
Insane waste to make nonsensical political statements.
Friggin morons!
As stupid as the car crushing...Sell the damn stuff on a one time basis. You can be certain that this as all been pilfered over the years...and those wonderful museum people and archeologists have Swiss bank accounts.
medicine??
Elephant poachers should be relieved of their testicles and their right hands. That would send a less equivocal message.
I usually go to the source and read the posts. Here is an interesting post:
“Who the hell does the US government think they are to do this? I am South African and we have more elephants than we can keep. Culling is necessary to keep the elephant community from getting rid of older elephants so that the baby elephants can survive in the limited wild animal land that is available. I am sick of American dictators meddling in our affairs. Rather think about crushing the US regime. And destryoying ivory art as opposed to selling it to help with animal conservation, is stupid. But that is what have come to expect from this idiotic Halfrican US regime and the Americans that support them.”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=200104722
The soaring demand comes mostly from newly rich Chinese, who see ivory as a status symbol.
I'm careful taking it out and putting it back in my pocket: If you rub it just right, it turns into a garment bag ..... Hey, whoa, yeah baby! Drink up folks, we got three more years of this s***. And leave the towels in the room OK, and no peeing in the pool, we're all grownups here, right? Bing badda boom.
Like most libtards, it is all about the message and FEELINGS and not about results. I remember reading about this kind of dramatization in the National Geographic back in the 1970s when the still did honest reporting. Kenya still loved these theatrics but still had rampant poaching and declining elephant herds. What was then Rhodesia had growing herds and little problems with poaching. They practiced an Evil System by the Evil Race. They issued a limited number of harvest tags and used the proceeds to fund a highly effective anti-poaching program. No photo-ops, just results.
Somebody with government connections is much richer today.
You misspelled "Feral".
Well, if Obama the Kenyan's administration is any indication, about four.
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