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Sloth poaching in northwestern Colombia

nationalgeographic.com

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Re: Sloth poaching in northwestern Colombia

#11

Post by mistrial9 »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #5

Sloths are amazing animals and the three-toed variety seen in this article is insanely cute but unfortunately for them, their cuteness makes them a desirable object for the tourist selfie industry and people who want them as pets and therefore a target for unscrupulous poachers. And since they're too slow and low on energy to defend themselves it means they're an easy target and most likely won't survive their captor…

poaching is a macho crime and there is little "desperate" that I can see in that. From random other information, it seems that high powered automatic rifles are quite common in some populations. How much money does ammunition and service of many hundreds of high powered automatic rifles cost?

My take - markets do not price at all rationally in the wild lands, and human nature is the driver here.

Re: Sloth poaching in northwestern Colombia

#12

Post by csdvrx »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #5

Sloths are amazing animals and the three-toed variety seen in this article is insanely cute but unfortunately for them, their cuteness makes them a desirable object for the tourist selfie industry and people who want them as pets and therefore a target for unscrupulous poachers. And since they're too slow and low on energy to defend themselves it means they're an easy target and most likely won't survive their captor…

> If you destroy the demand for a service, the supply will naturally fall, but the core issue is more complex as the quote below highlights what the main problem is:

Alternative take: the demand of the service "sloth-as-pets" could lead to their domestication/breeding in captivity, like the Cobra Effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentive)

That's another reason I'm not so concerned for endangered species humans find yummy/cute/(...): there's a strong financial incentive we never run out of them!

Re: Sloth poaching in northwestern Colombia

#14

Post by shh_labs »

csdvrx wrote: post #12
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #5

Sloths are amazing animals and the three-toed variety seen in this article is insanely cute but unfortunately for them, their cuteness makes them a desirable object for the tourist selfie industry and people who want them as pets and therefore a target for unscrupulous poachers. And since they're too slow and low on energy to defend themselves it means they're an easy target and most likely won't survive their captor…

> If you destroy the demand for a service, the supply will naturally fall, but the core issue is more complex as the quote below highlights what the main problem is: Alternative take: the demand of the service "sloth-as-pets" could lead to their domestication/breeding in captivity, like the Cobra Effect ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentive ) That's another reason I'm not so concerned for endangered spec…

Isn’t the issue not the survival of the species, but the cruelty to the individuals?

Re: Sloth poaching in northwestern Colombia

#15

Post by csdvrx »

shh_labs wrote: post #14
csdvrx wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you destroy the demand for a service, the supply will naturally fall, but the core issue is more complex as the quote below highlights what the main problem is: Alternative take: the demand of the service "sloth-as-pets" could lead to their domestication/breeding in captivity, like the Cobra Effect ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentive ) That's another reason I'm not so concerned for endangered spec…

Isn’t the issue not the survival of the species, but the cruelty to the individuals?

Then it's a case of moving goalposts, as all the cases about endangered species have been made about the survival of the species.

Re: Sloth poaching in northwestern Colombia

#16

Post by shh_labs »

csdvrx wrote: post #15
shh_labs wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t the issue not the survival of the species, but the cruelty to the individuals?

Then it's a case of moving goalposts, as all the cases about endangered species have been made about the survival of the species.

So it’s OK to be cruel to species that aren’t endangered?

Re: Sloth poaching in northwestern Colombia

#17

Post by csdvrx »

shh_labs wrote: post #16
csdvrx wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then it's a case of moving goalposts, as all the cases about endangered species have been made about the survival of the species.

So it’s OK to be cruel to species that aren’t endangered?

> So it’s OK to be cruel to species that aren’t endangered?

Then my apologies, it's an appeal to emotions + moving the goalpost.

It's ok for people to do things you may disapprove of as long as it's legal.

Re: Sloth poaching in northwestern Colombia

#18

Post by wavefunction »

csdvrx wrote: post #17
shh_labs wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So it’s OK to be cruel to species that aren’t endangered?

> So it’s OK to be cruel to species that aren’t endangered? Then my apologies, it's an appeal to emotions + moving the goalpost. It's ok for people to do things you may disapprove of as long as it's legal.

Like own other people as slaves? I don't think I agree.
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