Earlier quoted context omitted.
I donated 100 to each
May your code be forever bugfree.
+1
Footage shows young elephants being captured for Chinese zoos
21–30 of 86 posts
Re: Footage shows young elephants being captured for Chinese zoos
#22You guys should consider donating to the International Anti-Poaching Foundation[0][1] which fights these poachers. The founder, Damien Mander[2], is an Australian ex spec-ops sniper who is using his military experience to train the park rangers since they, unlike the poachers, tend to be poorly equipped and trained as well as understaffed. There is also the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust[3][4] which takes care of ele…
Out of curiosity, are these organizations literally fighting poachers? I.e. we're saying that an elephant's life is more valuable than a human's? That's an interesting moral question.
That's not the question at all. The question is whether we should let humans hunt species to extinction.
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https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/fight-against-...
"Between 2010 and 2012, ivory hunters shot down an astonishing 100,000 elephants across Africa—more than 60 percent of central Africa’s elephant population has been lost during the ten-year period beginning in 2002—according to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences."
http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/van_anim_elephant.htm
"Demand for ivory, combined with habitat loss from human settlement, has led to a dramatic decline in elephant populations in the last few decades. In 1930, there were between 5 and 10 million African elephants. By 1979, there were 1.3 million.
In 1989, when they were added to the international list of the most endangered species, there were about 600,000 remaining, less than one percent of their original number.
Asian elephants were never as abundant as their African cousins, and today they are even more endangered than African elephants. At the turn of the century, there were an estimated 200,000 Asian elephants. Today there are probably no more than 35,000 to 40,000 left in the wild."
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So, we ask the question: Why save endangered species?
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150715-why-save-an-endanger...
1) We like them, 2) The biosphere provides trillions of dollars to the global economy, 3) Loss of species impacts ecological systems and puts us at risk as we depend on them for survival.
Re: Footage shows young elephants being captured for Chinese zoos
#23You guys should consider donating to the International Anti-Poaching Foundation[0][1] which fights these poachers. The founder, Damien Mander[2], is an Australian ex spec-ops sniper who is using his military experience to train the park rangers since they, unlike the poachers, tend to be poorly equipped and trained as well as understaffed. There is also the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust[3][4] which takes care of ele…
Out of curiosity, are these organizations literally fighting poachers? I.e. we're saying that an elephant's life is more valuable than a human's? That's an interesting moral question.
The question is whether it's okay to shoot first at a gang of heavily armed criminals, or whether you have to attempt an arrest first.
Re: Footage shows young elephants being captured for Chinese zoos
#24Ah, China, you know, it is the modern day and age and you cannot get what we here in the west got the way we got it. Sorry. Edit: Oh, getting some downvotes, just saying that it is a bit hypocritically to go to a western zoo (not saying you all are) and watch elephants probably acquired in a similar fashion.
> we did something wrong in the past so other people are allowed to do it in the present Not sure on your logic here.
That said, I can understand the frustration at the hypocrisy.
Perhaps the developed world could recognize the unfairness of the situation and help Chinese zoos with care standards and loans/donations of elephants from zoos that have them.
Re: Footage shows young elephants being captured for Chinese zoos
#25You guys should consider donating to the International Anti-Poaching Foundation[0][1] which fights these poachers. The founder, Damien Mander[2], is an Australian ex spec-ops sniper who is using his military experience to train the park rangers since they, unlike the poachers, tend to be poorly equipped and trained as well as understaffed. There is also the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust[3][4] which takes care of ele…
Out of curiosity, are these organizations literally fighting poachers? I.e. we're saying that an elephant's life is more valuable than a human's? That's an interesting moral question.
Elephant's don't go around shooting humans....
Re: Footage shows young elephants being captured for Chinese zoos
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
> we did something wrong in the past so other people are allowed to do it in the present Not sure on your logic here.
That said, I can understand the frustration at the hypocrisy. Perhaps the developed world could recognize the unfairness of the situation and help Chinese zoos with care standards and loans/donations of elephants from zoos that have them.
I agree very much with that, same as with polluting industries etc.
Re: Footage shows young elephants being captured for Chinese zoos
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Out of curiosity, are these organizations literally fighting poachers? I.e. we're saying that an elephant's life is more valuable than a human's? That's an interesting moral question.
That's not the question at all. The question is whether we should let humans hunt species to extinction. -- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/fight-against-... "Between 2010 and 2012, ivory hunters shot down an astonishing 100,000 elephants across Africa—more than 60 percent of central Africa’s elephant population has been lost during the ten-year period beginning in 2002—according to the U.S. National Ac…
> "...The question is whether we should let humans hunt species to extinction."
Why is this the question? Why is "extinction" so important? The fate of most species is extinction anyway.
Re: Footage shows young elephants being captured for Chinese zoos
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ah. So if China were to capture entire families of elephants, you'd be ok with it? I'm just trying to determine where the line is. I went to a zoo a couple months ago. The elephants' tusks were cut, presumably so that the elephants wouldn't be able to impale each other. That was a bit too sad for me to want to go back to zoos anymore.
> The elephants' tusks were cut, presumably so that the elephants wouldn't be able to impale each other. That was a bit too sad for me to want to go back to zoos anymore. Hint: the same is being done in mass animal production - pigs have their tails capped to prevent cannibalism from boredom, and chickens get "debeaked" (yeah it's an actual word). Male chicks actually get gassed or shredded alive (!) to death right a…
> Male chicks actually get gassed or shredded alive (!) to death right after hatching because they're fairly useless for the meat production.
This isn't true. Most male chicks are slaughtered as broilers, just like most female chicks. (In fact broilers were initially the males that were culled from the egg-laying females.)
Re: Footage shows young elephants being captured for Chinese zoos
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Out of curiosity, are these organizations literally fighting poachers? I.e. we're saying that an elephant's life is more valuable than a human's? That's an interesting moral question.
A few years ago I was on a trip in Tanzania, visiting Ngorongoro Crater. At one point, high up on the crater rim, the guide pulled the Land Rover to the side of the road to give a ride to a couple of uniformed "park rangers". They were dealing with "reports of poachers", and each was carrying an AK-47. It was unclear whether actual shooting was part of their remit; they were not talkative.
While in the Kruger National Park, our driver was speeding and caught by a pair of rangers. One approached the car to collect the fine (cash only), the other had an assault rifle at the ready.
Re: Footage shows young elephants being captured for Chinese zoos
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not the question at all. The question is whether we should let humans hunt species to extinction. -- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/fight-against-... "Between 2010 and 2012, ivory hunters shot down an astonishing 100,000 elephants across Africa—more than 60 percent of central Africa’s elephant population has been lost during the ten-year period beginning in 2002—according to the U.S. National Ac…
> "...The question is whether we should let humans hunt species to extinction." Why is this the question? Why is "extinction" so important? The fate of most species is extinction anyway.
I added an answer to this at the bottom of my comment.