A recent survey of savanna elephant populations estimated that poachers killed 30,000 animals annually between 2007 and 2014, reducing the population to fewer than 400,000. Overall, researchers estimate that African elephant numbers have plummeted more than 95% over the past century.
[...] Zimbabwe, Namibia, and South Africa—are expected to offer proposals for restarting a legal ivory trade. All argue that some elephant populations are healthy enough to be managed for ivory production. The proposals envision taking tusks from both animals that are intentionally killed—sometimes because they become nuisances, trampling crops and threatening people—and those that die naturally.
A study in Current Biology concludes that the demand for ivory far exceeds any sustainable harvest model and that there is a high risk that lifting the ivory ban will make things worse. The authors note that attempts must be made to reduce the demand for ivory:
At the same time, we cannot brush aside the fact that poaching has reached industrial scale fuelled by an increase in consumer demand driven by the rise of the middle class in countries like China. We must urgently work on finding ways to change consumer behavior as the only avenue by which we can resolve the ivory trade tragedy.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/09/legalizing-ivory-trade-wont-save-elephants-study-concludes
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)31005-3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_ivory
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday October 24 2016, @01:24PM
You're proposing to stop the supply source of ivory - which I agree. I also propose to stop the demand for ivory, by educating the goddamn Chinese who think consuming it gives them a hard-on. It's a less immediate, but more sustainable solution.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @02:11PM
Or flood the market with fake "ivory" which is doped with something that causes long-term erectile dysfunction.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Kromagv0 on Monday October 24 2016, @02:51PM
educating the goddamn Chinese who think consuming it gives them a hard-on.
How about just re-educate them to believe that some other garbage will give them a hard on or some other bull shit. Seriously traditional Chinese medicine has some really stupid things in it, bear bile, rino horn, swim bladders from some fish, a bunch of other crap I forget or don't know about so why not add in bull testicles, pig hove, lion fish, and what ever other crap we want to get rid of. I do the same thing with the Hmong I see fishing and keeping every shitty little fish they pull out. I tell them where they can go catch some big invasive fish and that they can take as many as they want and not get in trouble. By doing this they can go and catch all the Asian carp they can eat and hopefully limit their spread further up the Mississippi.
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Monday October 24 2016, @03:56PM
Cane toads. Australian cane toads will give you a hard-on that lasts for hours. Spread the word.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 3, Funny) by tibman on Monday October 24 2016, @04:53PM
1/5 Stars: Penis is definitely bigger but i'd describe it as swollen or puffy and not hard. Don't buy from this dealer, it obviously isn't legit cane toad!
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday October 24 2016, @04:59PM
Separating the Chinese from their superstitions is like separating American teenagers from their cellphones - you might make it happen in 2% of the population, but you'll never get them all.
🌻🌻 [google.com]