Pat Oliphant for June 23, 2014

Relatively soon, there will be no elephants in the wild. Even without their ivory, they compete with people for living areas. See this National Geographic article from 2012:.http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/10/ivory/christy-text

Ignorance, superstition and greed: files in Man’s portfolio as caretaker of the earth.

God, are You sure You thought this out?

“China is helping to fuel this multibillion-dollar illicit trade with its demand for ivory to use in decorations and in traditional medicines, the AFP reported”

How about the United Nations leading a multi-national condemnation agianst China, with sanctions?

Write your congressmen.

This is in reference to Satao, one of the few remaining Great Tuskers, killed a few days ago." < – - – - Clickable url.

Btw, although Pat’s surname is Scottish and unrelated, the word “olifant” means elephant in Dutch/Afrikaans.

Although the ivory trade was banned in 1989, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland have longed lobbied to have the ban over-turned or amended. In 2000 SA managed to get permission to sell a stock-pile of seized ivory and again a couple of years later, and a large stock-pile was sold off a few years agoThe successful moratorium on ivory sales had meant elephant numbers had increased all over Africa. I’ve listened to pros (flooding the market with ivory lowers prices and therefore less poaching) and cons of limited and controlled sales of ivory stock-piles but I think it has provided cover for illicit ivory trading in a big way.China’s economic rise this past decade has more than absorbed this extra ivory; it wants more.

Many tribes sell other tribes into slavery. The Arabsbought and sold everybody they could get their handson during the centuries of slavery in the New World.

And Rhino horn has had a particular return in…Viet Nam. Hundreds a year are now poached within South Africa, a country considered well resourced in terms of wildlife protection; demand shot up spectacularly just within the last few years. I saw a doccie on its resurgence in the past few years and it was astonishing why, how and who. Crazy.I’ve had the experiences of several walkabout safaris and being on the edge of an elephant herd, being circled by a curious rhino…As for other tastes, I might just follow wife & daughter and become vegetarian. The wholesale slaughter of our fish and the sheer waste of returning dead undersized fish is staggering.

I used to have an old piano with ivory keys. The touch was much nicer than the plastic keys on new pianos. Is the death of an elephant worth a little digital pleasure? Not to me.

And Americans bought them.

Half a century ago, I acquired a small ivory figure, and it wasn’t long after that I discovered how serious the problem of animal destruction was becoming. Rhino horn by the way is also taken to provide for the handles of those most expensive knives you see displayed in the Arab world, not just for “medicine” in Asia.

It goes to the demands of over seven billion people now making demands on land, and the wildlife populations on every continent, not just Africa.

Ignorance is the real danger, and profiteers in many stripes count on it.

I gripe and pontificate on GC a lot, about political lunacy and corporate greed. But, human cruelty to animals, large and small, really pisses me off. Yes, there is much privation among humans, in all countries, but this is our own inter-species infighting. If we want to kill each other off, that’s our business. But many other species are on this planet, most here long before us. People who abuse cats, dogs, horses, and poach elephants, rhinos, bears etc for financial profit are among the lowest scum to ever inhabit God’s earth.

This is interesting. My response to mdavis has been removed.For what reason…? Because I said he was likely a Birther? Gosh…now we know that is indeed a slur. :-|

Your Walmart dollars at work.

So, do you want us to visit China (not by) or do you want us to refrain from purchasing products (buy)?