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Mat Roop
Senior Member


Joined: 24 Mar 2007
Posts: 911
Location: Wyoming Ontario

PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 4:59 pm    Post subject: something wrong with this picture... Reply with quote

In the April Issue of the Strad, there is a pic of a huge pile of illegal ivory that was crushed.
The poisoning of elephants for their ivory is absolutely horrid....I understand the need to protect elephants.... but of the ivory in that pile ( and many others I suppose) the elephants have already paid the price. Why not use that which is already harvested for practical and useful artistic purpose???
Surely there is a way to discourage poachers other than to en mass destroy ivory. Perhaps a simple method to just register every existing piece of ivory and any purchases of unfinished ivory must be purchased from a gov't agency or other registered organization in only the quantities required for a specific project.
Destruction simply removes the ivory from the memories of future generations... Why not preserve it as history and a reminder of mans' ability to exact inhumanity?
... but then, what do I know.... Mat
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ctviolin
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Joined: 07 May 2009
Posts: 961
Location: Roswell

PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 7:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, there is the theory or the philosophy that destroying ALL of the ivory that exists, will send a message to the people still harvesting it, that there will not (ever) be a time when their efforts will be tolerated, even in the past...

Illogical, yes perhaps, but the people involved in the eradication of it (the eradication of killing elephants for their ivory, that is), believe that their message, apparently, needs all of the force they can muster.

I happen to agree with you - what has already been harvested should not be "wasted" in such a fashion. But I also understand the why behind the action. It's a symbolic act geared towards the people that are still harvesting and killing the elephants - in my opinion.
Will such activities (as crushing already harvested ivory) help stop what's going on?

We'll see.
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Michael Darnton
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Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 1281
Location: Chicago

PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

However, if you're a rich hunter, on a legal elephant hunt, you can bring in all the trunks you get. They're too busy hunting down ivory tips on musicians' bows to bother about rich hunters.

The whole thing is irrational, from one end to the other.
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kjb
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Joined: 06 Feb 2013
Posts: 385

PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 6:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

can a bureaucracy function any other way, but irrationally ?
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johngia
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Joined: 10 Nov 2009
Posts: 84

PostPosted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 7:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

6:52 AM 4/3/2014

There is no law that can stop greed and corruption.

But at least they're doing something to save elephants. Destroying musical instruments and tons of tusks. Decreasing supply. Making dead elephants even more in demand --- more profitable for the poachers.

I measured the bow tip in one of my bows. .408"x.944"x.132". Volume = .051 cubic inches.

Where should we be concentrating our efforts?

****************************************
A male's pair of tusks may exceed 441 pounds (200 kg) for the pair. The heaviest ones recorded were 461 pounds (209 kg), taken from an old bull shot in 1897.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/aprilholladay/2004-10-29-wonderquest_x.htm

****************************************

A cubic foot of ivory weighs 114 lb.

http://www.mathalino.com/reviewer/solid-mensuration-solid-geometry/005-weight-ivory-billiard-balls
**************************************

Let's think about this:

114lbs/ft3 divided by 1728in3/ft3 = .066lbs/in3 = ivory weight converted to cubic inches

.066lbs/in3 X .051in3/bow tip = .0034 lbs per bow tip

441lbs per elephant divided by .0034 lbs/bow tip = 129,705 bow tips

Dividing by half for waste and saw width ---

One elephant can provide material for 64,852 bow tips!!!

Even without these calculations, just picturing a bow tip in relation to a tusk one can surmise that thousands and thousands of tips from a single tusk.

Yep --- save one elephant --- destroy 64,852 violin bows!!

That will really impact the situation ---

************************************
"At least a couple of hundred thousand forest elephants were lost between 2002-2013 to the tune of at least 60 a day, or one every 20 minutes, day and night,"

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2014/02/12/Study-finds-worrying-decline-as-African-elephants-poached-for-ivory/UPI-61771392233963/
************************************

Yes --- there is something wrong with this picture.

P.S.

I have carbon copied this post as a P.S. to a previous email I sent to the Co-chairman of the U.S. Senate International Conservation Caucus.
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ctviolin
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Joined: 07 May 2009
Posts: 961
Location: Roswell

PostPosted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 4:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

johngia wrote:
6:52 AM 4/3/2014
There is no law that can stop greed and corruption.


I agree, since a sound argument could be made that laws are the partition behind which much of the greed and corruption that exists today, (and in the past) safely acquire and maintain their standing.
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