Sorry Jan!
IMO I believe it's the end user that needs targeting.
So you jail the poacher.....Depriving the family of income!.....So what does his son do ?.....Become a poacher!
After all the poacher only wanted to feed his family! Not buy a trinket made from American redwood, English oak, Italian marble or Deutsche Dogge. (Sorry Pippa & Carsten, Just couldn't think of a better example! Doh!)

The same for the Chinese carver who's active carving life is short because of eye sight & dexterity problems.

kipper:

That may be true in some circumstances. However, I personally know of a situation in Amboseli where two men horribly speared an elephant (see Odile's picture). They were caught and sent to prison. When they got out of prison they warned all their fellow Maasai living in the area how bad jail was and not to do any more spearing. There has been a marked decrease in spearing since. It DOES wake some people up.

Nico - I do agree with you that there should be an international law that anyone found with ivory would do an automatic (at least) 10 year sentence - whether you are the poor man killing the elephant, the middle man or the ivory carver/seller.

I do not believe the case you mention that the people concerned spent 10 years in prison. By the time of their release they would be hardened criminals next step murder & not just food for the table!

A short sharp shock, say about a year, I believe would suffice at the poacher level it is further up the chain that the heavy sentences should be dealt!
Each case on its own merit though, as in the case of the KWS killings recently. I'm sure the perpetrators were not Maasai with spears.

A couple of very valid points were expressed by Carsten and Jan.

While I tend to disagree with Carsten that total populations in E.A. are declining I think this may hold true for the Kenya population.

Carsten mentioned that in his opinion, the difference between the death numbers in SA and EA is poaching! Possibly. I think in addition to that is:
- A much larger ele population in Kenya than in South Africa resulting in a higher density/km square and all the problems associated with a higher density.
- Wildlife in general has a much lower value to humans in Kenya than in SA and hence lower tolerance.
- Higher density means more human-wildlife conflict resulting in more deaths.
- Out of a total estimate of 14,000 ele´s in SA, 12,000 are in the Kruger. The Kruger is a fenced park and much easier to manage and control and protect. Kenyan population is much larger, more spread out and harder to monitor and protect.

Jan mentioned about allowing elephant herds to migrate and disperse when overcrowded. This is true for certain populations only. The extent of the dispersal area depends on water availability and lack of human settlement. It is accepted that elephants will vacate an area when human density approaches 1 person/15 square km. There are very small areas left in Africa where densities are lower than that. There will be even less based on current human population growth rates. Anyone of us that thinks there will be more land available for wildlife in 20, 40, 60 years time is in dreamland! As a result of this very basic fact, current populations need human intervention to survive.

Nico:

I think if it were ONLY ivory sold from elephants and rhinos that have died of natural causes no-one would object to its sale. However, as you well know, there is absolutely no way one can tell the difference between poached ivory and that from an elephant that has died a natural death. Thus the ban has to remain on all ivory.

The DNA studies they are doing on ivory is fascinating. They can now tell within 300 miles where the ivory came from. However, DNA testing is very expensive so I doubt that it will become common place on all ivory.

The renewable source bwanamich refers to is at the present time. However, as you know, more and more elephants are now tuskless - so that renewable source might have a limited time frame.

At one time all piano keys and billiard balls were all made of ivory. Because of pressure put on companies that made them, ivory is no longer used. Ivory will always have some demand, but if the general public were better educated about how that ivory necklace, bracelet or carving were obtained, some of the demand would stop.

Jan,

Annually several MILLION dollars are spent by anti ivory trade campaigns in demonstrations, placards, advertisements, television & magazine ads, undercover investigations, etc. which could be directed towards DNA testing, recording and instituting a safe, controlled process to trace trade in "legal" ivory. There are sufficient funds available if everyone would agree that that is the best way to go forward and spend the money.

The tuskless elephant phenomena can take centuries before their numbers become an issue. Wildlife management is a constant changing process and that bridge will need to be crossed when we get to it.