Ethiopia Burns Six Tonnes of Elephant Ivory

[icyfroth]

 Ethiopia burns six tonnes of elephant ivory, vowing 'zero tolerance' to poachers

Ethiopia has torched a six-tonne pile of seized elephant ivory, the country's entire stock, vowing a "zero tolerance" policy towards poachers and traffickers.

The torching of the seized stock, which included huge tusks, elaborate carvings, necklaces and bracelets, came two weeks after neighbouring Kenya made a similar gesture aimed at demonstrating renewed commitment to protect Africa's iconic but dwindling elephant population.

"The message we're sending is that we have zero tolerance for poaching and illegal trafficking," Dawud Mume Ali, director of the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority, said.

"We are trying to save the elephants from extinction. This is part of that. We have to act rather than talk."

Entire Article Here

Good move I think, but won't it just simply drive the value and demand higher? I mean, ever since the Ivory trade has been has been outlawed, the elephant population should be rising, not dwindling. Instead, illegal poaching is now rampant and uncontrollable.

Instead of burning the ivory, could they not have released it for sale and satisfied some of the market for it? Other countries stockpiling ivory could do the same.

Providing the market with a ready product is surely the way to drive demand and price down? Conversely, depriving a market is a sure way to increase demand and value, and drive production underground?

Thoughts anyone?

[***super_nova***]

Yes, i definitely think that confiscated ivory and ivory from culled elephants should be used to flood the market and reduce prices.  The poachers then could not compete.  But isn't new ivory illegal?  That would make bit difficult, and I guess the poachers then would move onto something else.

[wilk1149]

To have any useful effect on the ivory trade one would have to kill a lot of christians in Asia as they believe ivory items bring them closer to God

[icyfroth]

---

@***super_nova*** wrote:

Yes, i definitely think that confiscated ivory and ivory from culled elephants should be used to flood the market and reduce prices.  The poachers then could not compete.  But isn't new ivory illegal?  That would make bit difficult, and I guess the poachers then would move onto something else.

---

Yes, new ivory is illegal. But I'm thinking along the same lines. They could control use of  ivory from culled elepants to satisfy at least some of the demand, use the benefit for their wildlife protection programs and deprive the poachers of the high rewards the illegal trade brings them.

It makes me sad to see all that ivory that the poor creatures had to die for simply destroyed . Such a waste.

[icyfroth]

---

@wilk1149 wrote:
To have any useful effect on the ivory trade one would have to kill a lot of christians in Asia as they believe ivory items bring them closer to God

---

Really? Where in christian teaching would they be led to believe that? They must be mixing it up with their own old religion.

[opmania]

just seems like all those elephants have died for nothing

[imastawka]

Most countries have signed the CITES treaty.

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CITES

New ivory is not permitted to cross borders. 

Antique ivory must have provenance

So there would not be a legal market for it

[bright.ton42]

---

@wilk1149 wrote:
To have any useful effect on the ivory trade one would have to kill a lot of christians in Asia as they believe ivory items bring them closer to God

---

So where did that piece of nonsense come from?

[lyndal1838]

I am really not sure that I agree with the CITES Treaty.

The idea behind it has merit but in practice it does not work or there would not be these stockpiles of illegal ivory.

It looks like a wicked waste of an animals life when the government just destroys it.  Some of the countries are dirt poor and require millions of $ of outside aid.  It makes more sense to me for the governments to put this seized ivory to good use to help their own people.

Surely a controlled release of ivory onto the market makes more sense than just destroying it.

[the_hawk*]

burning the poachers would seem a better idea