Live data from Hacker News

China announces ban on ivory trade by end of 2017

bbc.com

71–80 of 184 posts

Re: China announces ban on ivory trade by end of 2017

#72

This is really great news! But we can go even further, let's continue with banning Rhino horn markets (would we call it keratin markets rather than ivory?). Keratin would be primary component here, the same protein that makes human fingernails also is what composes Rhino horns. http://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-vietnam-rhino-traf... In Vietnam and some of China there are some who cling to a belief that eating…

International trade in rhino horn has been banned (via CITES) since 1977. China banned the domestic trade of rhino horn in 1993. A similar ban is in place in Vietnam. You literally cannot ban it any further.

If you want to ban the "keratin" market, make sure you promptly dispose of your woolen sweaters.

Re: China announces ban on ivory trade by end of 2017

#74

I always wondered- why is the ivory market not flooded with fakes? Everything is faked in china, this is a valuable good- is there no way to synthesize dentin flood the poachers out of the buisness?

There probably is but the market for ivory is for ornamental/medicinal practices, which require "real" ivory.

Re: China announces ban on ivory trade by end of 2017

#75

I always wondered- why is the ivory market not flooded with fakes? Everything is faked in china, this is a valuable good- is there no way to synthesize dentin flood the poachers out of the buisness?

This has been considered before, but there's a significant risk that it would only drive up the value of "genuine" ivory. It could also make it harder to discredit the beliefs about ivory having special medicinal/magical properties, since people could rationalize "well it only works with REAL ivory."

Re: China announces ban on ivory trade by end of 2017

#76

I always wondered- why is the ivory market not flooded with fakes? Everything is faked in china, this is a valuable good- is there no way to synthesize dentin flood the poachers out of the buisness?

For ivory, you would essentially have to grow a tooth in vitro for less than $1500, retail. Technologically, we're not there yet.

Re: China announces ban on ivory trade by end of 2017

#78

For data on elephant populations and the effect of ivory bans or increased demand, check out: https://elephant-atlas.org/ - including an API. The counts come from an awesome program called the Great Elephant Census ( http://www.greatelephantcensus.com/ ). Disclaimer: I work for The OCR

Are there any opportunities for getting involved say in some open source projects? I'd be definitely curious.

Re: China announces ban on ivory trade by end of 2017

#80
There have been quite a few downvotes for suggesting that illegalization may not be the best remedy.

What are people's thoughts on something like: https://youtu.be/YUA8i5S0YMU

tldw:

Controlled trophy hunting big game is one of the most effective ways (sadly) of protecting the hunted animals.

Post reply on HN