Be A Realist, Not A Purist

[NamStay]

Excellent video!

 

[tarbe]

At some point the value of the horn will be reduced to where few would risk life and limb for it - especially when there is a safe, legal, sustainable way.

Of course, there will always be a criminal element...some folks still run booze and smokes, regardless of supply/demand.

But this is about survival of the species, right? If the farming of rhino horn and selling in the open market can reduce the price enough to put many of the poachers out of business, I’m all for it.

 

[MartyJ]

Excellent video
Intelligent argument
** How much money would PeTA and
other leftist groups lose ?

 

[Newboomer]

Excellent video. Watching that, I had a thought: Why can't they do that with elephant? Maybe if they cut off tusks it would stop or curtail ivory poaching.

 

[Adrian]

Excellent video. Watching that, I had a thought: Why can't they do that with elephant? Maybe if they cut off tusks it would stop or curtail ivory poaching.

Elephant tusks are used by the elephants as tools to obtain food.
Sure, there are tuskless elephants but their ability to procure food is less than an elephant with tusks. An animal with tusks can dig for water, roots and tubers and gain access to a wider range of food than one without tusks who will have to rely on just their trunk to gather enough sustenance.
If you remove their ability to gather food and water you are reducing their ability to survive.

Also, tusks are teeth, not a mass of hair such as a rhino horn.
There is a root for about 1/3 of the length so you cannot simply just chop it off. You would need to leave a decent amount of ivory intact and that will still be enough ivory to make the elephant worth killing.

A rhino horn can be chain sawed off because there is no root system and it will grow back.
To remove an elephant's tusk is basically industrial dentistry.
You would need to tranquilise the animal and then, in field conditions remove the tusk which is buried deep in the cranial cavity, about 1/3 of the entire length of the tusk is buried in the elephant's head.
It is just not a viable option from a practical or financial point of view.

If you imagine having your tooth cut off or pulled out and then scale it up to elephant size you might get an idea of the impracticality of the scenario.

 

[K-man]

Poachers kill the rhinos with the horns cut off also. Keeps them from tracking the same rhino again. One place I was at lost all 5 rhinos after dehorning. Sad