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[hobblygobbly]

Majority of poachers are not necessarily just poor and hopeless, they are well trained, they're *not* some randoms going out killing elephants/rhino and selling it off to the highest bidder.

It's organised crime and syndicates that these people join, they receive training by the syndicates and are involved in other crimes too, it's not defensible. It's a market where thousands of rhinos are killed in South Africa, so much wealth is spread through these syndicates. The syndicates even hire damn lawyers to get their people out of shit when arrested.

My friend in South Africa works as a ranger and in an anti-poaching patrol unit for stopping poaching of rhino in huge reserves like the Kruger National Park (South Africa doesn't have rhino out in the pure wild), I've heard a lot of stories from the situations he's been in, members in his unit getting shot by these scumbags, etc.

Just over a thousand rhino are killed in South Africa each year (luckily stats have gone down I think in 2015), there's even international private units/groups (ex-military) coming to work in SA to help the local groups, they use everything from helicopters, dog units, guns, etc to stop them.

Will people also defend the Somali pirates that did what they did because they were poor and needed money? These are syndicates operating on the same principles, it's not about meeting bare necessities, Somali pirate activities have been curbed with the patrols on the seas there, just like how poaching now in SA at least is also starting to be curbed with trained people to defend the animals. These people kill people protecting the animals as well, didn't we have an article a few days on GAF where some people in a unit were killed too while on patrol?

 

[UFO]

Good for you that it's so clear cut and binary

Between them starving to death and finding a more positive way for those people to survive & feed their families, which alternative to poaching would you prefer?

A more positive way for them to survive would be great. But waiting for that to happen at the expense of continued poaching is not worth it IMO. Obviously the problem goes much deeper, to the people paying poachers, and the people buying ivory, but as far as the poachers themselves go I'd have no problem with a helicopter flying around and shooting poachers on sight.

See this is really easy to say when you sit in a relatively much more comfortable position. Seriously dude think about wha you just spewed out. You're no one to decide who should be left to die.

Yes I'd say poachers are bad people but it isn't stemming from pure inherent evil or something.

Lucky for the poachers and the people paying them that I'm not the person who decides if they should live or die. Unfortunately it's just my opinion. And I don't care if they do it because they're evil or they need to feed their family. They're destroying the natural world, and I have zero tolerance for that. The life of 1 elephant is more valuable then the life of every poacher in the world combined.

 

[Linkyn]

never really understood the mindset of these poachers. what happens after they kill off all the sources of ivory? seems like conservation and using the animals as tourist attractions is far more sustainable.

That's the really frustrating part of it. Ivory trade is dumb enough as it is, but you could make it sustainable if you wanted. Poaching is all about short-term profits with no long-term vision, so it's both ecologically damaging and economically short-sighted, ie doubly moronic.

 

[Sunster]

Now how could we defy shark poachers?

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Is ivory actually legal in China?

 

[KDR_11k]

I think it's good to burn this stuff, otherwise people would have an incentive to poach more to add to the stockpile and make money.

Is ivory actually legal in China?

In a corrupt country "legal" is defined by the size of the bribe.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

they'll keep hunting other species to extinction as well. It won't stop with rhinos/elephants.


The amount of incredible rich old chinese men with impotence problems far exceed and outweight any logical boundary that can be imposed. It's already over. It cannot be stopped or contained, and the penalty or punishment has to deterrence.
They are being offered millions of dollars. So its worth risking their life for it. It's like modern day piracy.

Tigers are also completely fucked; http://www.traffic.org/tigers/

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

Next, burn all the people who profit from and purchase the ivory from the poachers

This is the real answer. Attack the root of the problem, not the symptom.

In a corrupt country "legal" is defined by the size of the bribe.

So like America, then?

 

[GameAddict411]

Next, burn 105 poachers.

Really? burning people? WTF is wrong with you? Poachers deserve severe punishment, but torture and burning is not certainty not one of them.

 

[Speevy]

Really? burning people? WTF is wrong with you? Poachers deserve severe punishment, but torture and burning is not certainty not one of them.

Are you familiar with the concept of joking by playing around with the premise of the thread?

Do you really think I advocate burning people?

 

[cameron]

Is ivory actually legal in China?

There's currently a temporary ban on imports/exports. The two largest markets, China and the U.S., made a deal last year. But there are loopholes. Like hunting trophies and reselling "antique" ivory.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) took effect in 1975. It banned the ivory trade in 1989.

Like other countries, China permits the resale of ivory bought before the 1989 ban—and also has a stockpile purchased with CITES approval in 2008, which it releases for sale with certification.

Activists say the trade in legal ivory acts as a cover for illegal imports and call for a complete ban on sales.

The issue came up during President Xi Jinping's state visit to the US last year, when the White House said in a statement that the two countries "commit to enact nearly complete bans on ivory import and export".

The measures would include "significant and timely" restrictions on hunting trophy imports and steps to halt domestic commercial ivory trade, the statement added.

Beijing imposed a temporary ban on imports of ivory carvings last year, but campaigners described the move as more symbolic than effective.

http://phys.org/news/2016-03-china-widens-ivory-imports.html

 

[Angry Grimace]

I feel like the government of Kenya could have used $100000000

 

[Nabbis]

Why not burn the poachers?

 

[Dryk]

Could that Ivory have been sold to improve the protection of the remaining elephants?

Its the legalize drug argument..... but with elephants

The world stockpiles are so small that whenever they're sold off poaching increases. Demand is so high and the supply is so small that it's more profitable to launder illegal ivory into the legal trade than to try to sell it during periods where all ivory sales are banned. Also ivory stockpiles have a tendency to go missing, even when they're under around the clock armed guard.

Botswana oppose these measures because they think that the ivory is more useful as public art used to raise awareness. I think a combination of all three measures (burning, art and a complete clamp down on trade) is the only thing that will really control the flow of ivory. A lot of people don't even realise where it comes from, or that production is unsustainable. It's interesting reading interviews with Richard Leakey where he said that Kenyans often don't get to see wildlife documentaries filmed in Kenya, but when they do there's a lot more goodwill towards animals wandering into town and disrupting people.

 

[old manatee]

Won't it just make ivory more rare?

 

[HoldenGatsby]

Wouldn't it make more sense to flood the market with this ivory at as low a price as possible?

 

[rokkerkory]

I woulda sold it to hire more poach killers

 

[Bonen no Max'd]

Are you familiar with the concept of joking by playing around with the premise of the thread?

Do you really think I advocate burning people?

I mean, this thread does feature the guy fantasizing about shooting poachers from a helicopter so it's not the most unreasonable assumption.

 

[SmZA]

easy to say when you sit in a relatively much more comfortable position

What a terrible missed opportunity in this post.

 

[adamsappel]

Wouldn't it make more sense to flood the market with this ivory at as low a price as possible?

I doubt it makes the ivory really cheap, and just starts a new demand for more ivory.

 

[Reverend Funk]

Why not plant it in the ground to grow more elephants?

 

[Frosta]

Yes just like people who sympathize with the poor Somali pirates who have to ransom people to feed their family.

Will people also defend the Somali pirates that did what they did because they were poor and needed money? These are syndicates operating on the same principles, it's not about meeting bare necessities, Somali pirate activities have been curbed with the patrols on the seas there, just like how poaching now in SA at least is also starting to be curbed with trained people to defend the animals. These people kill people protecting the animals as well, didn't we have an article a few days on GAF where some people in a unit were killed too while on patrol?

I suggest you research that. Most Somali pirates are fisherman who turned into pirates after toxic wastes were being dumped into their waters by wealthy western companies... Which killed their fish a major food source and source for income. The pirates are robbing the same people who stole from them.