The Ivory Trade: The Ivory Trade

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The ivory trade is an industry where mammals are deprived of existence for the sole purpose of acquiring the ivory from their tusks. Ivory is an opulence that has not only represented prosperity and prestige for various cultures for thousands of years, it has also been notorious for the fact that "[i]t is beautiful, durable and relatively easy to shape into anything from tiny beads to intricately carved whole tusks" (Orenstein 31) (Refer to Appendix A). The ivory trade, which is primarily located in Asian and African regions, induce the slaughter of thousands of elephants per year (The Week Staff). Tusks are valuable substances; therefore, the price of a tusk can cost up to thousands of dollars (Orenstein 34). The poachers kill due to "...a …show more content…
As mentioned before, poachers kill due to "...a combination of poverty and social disruption at one end of the smuggling chain coupled with affluence, greed and ignorance at the other" (Orenstein 45). Corruption, a weak government and illegal launderers are the cause of the illegal ivory trade (Bennett 54 & 57-58). Thus, meaning that the poor and uneducated people from under-developed countries are using the poaching trade as a means to survive (Orenstein 47). On the other hand, the 'rich and greedy commanders' are the ones who are running the business aspect of the trade and smiling from all the money they are receiving (Orenstein 51). According to Vivek Menon who is an Indian conservationist, "[a] poacher remains at the wrong end of the ladder, of minor relevance and a pawn in the game" (Orenstein 51). It is "...the kingpins who actually control the trade..." and receive the large amounts of money (Orenstein 51). The black market dealers are often terrorist related and/or criminal organizations (The Week Staff). According to Peter Seligmann, the Conservation International CEO, "[p]oaching has become one of the most profitable criminal activities there is..." which shows how much it is happening in our society (The Week Staff). An example of this would be how Al-Shabab, which is an al Qaida branch in Somalia, uses the money from the poaching in order to …show more content…
The purpose of this analysis is to portray the unfortunate reality about how animals, specifically elephants, are being slaughtered for their tusks in order to satisfy our requirements. These mammals are beautiful creatures that have no right to be treated the way they are for the sole purpose of satisfying human wants and needs. In order to deduct the amount of ivory being poached and sold, "...public education..." needs to be enforced in order to enlighten locals and foreigners not to encourage buying ivory from the ivory trade dealers (Orenstein 180). Countries need to be involved with various conservation organizations and treaties such as CITES, TRAFFIC and World Wildlife Fund, which tries to stop wildlife trade, monitor wildlife and monitor ivory seizures (Hutchens 936 & 962 and "African Elephant") Lastly, by applying the "...shoot-to-kill laws", by making all countries work together in unifying an approach at harsher punishments in which would be the same worldwide, by inspecting nefarious organizations closer, by having "...specialized tactical tracking teams on the ground..." and lastly by
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