Comment Re:Meteors nice, ivory bad (Score 1) 129
Actually, you don't have to kill the elephants to get the ivory,
unless you're a low-tech poacher. Here's the Carmichael
Save the Elephants(and the rhinos, more immediately) plan:
(1) figure out how to provide the animals with prosthetic
tusks, from some ivory-like synthetic.
(2) harvest ivory from wild elephants that might otherwise
be subject to poaching.
(3) Set up certified ivory markets, with prices high enough to
to pay for (1) and (2), other conservation efforts, and a
bunch of government graft. They should try to stay low enough
to heavily discourage any poaching of animals that haven't been
brought under the harvesting regime yet.
Two potent disadvantages: some elephants will die, since
tranquilizer darts are not an exact science; and anyone going to
Africa and Asia to see wild elephants will have to see elephants
with braces. The former problem could hopefully be minimized
through further research; I have no idea what current techniques
allow for. The latter issue doesn't seem like a stopper.
unless you're a low-tech poacher. Here's the Carmichael
Save the Elephants(and the rhinos, more immediately) plan:
(1) figure out how to provide the animals with prosthetic
tusks, from some ivory-like synthetic.
(2) harvest ivory from wild elephants that might otherwise
be subject to poaching.
(3) Set up certified ivory markets, with prices high enough to
to pay for (1) and (2), other conservation efforts, and a
bunch of government graft. They should try to stay low enough
to heavily discourage any poaching of animals that haven't been
brought under the harvesting regime yet.
Two potent disadvantages: some elephants will die, since
tranquilizer darts are not an exact science; and anyone going to
Africa and Asia to see wild elephants will have to see elephants
with braces. The former problem could hopefully be minimized
through further research; I have no idea what current techniques
allow for. The latter issue doesn't seem like a stopper.
