Why the Ivory Ban Won't Save the African Elephant
 

I thought this was interesting. I excerpted a piece of the article below.

http://sportingclassicsdaily.com/iss...rican-elephant

Considering both articles, the effects of banning the resale of ivory in the U.S. remain negligible for the elephants’ future. Elephant populations seem more likely to benefit from a combination of wildlife management that includes hunting as part of the equation, monetary benefits to local individuals and various levels of government, increased law enforcement presence and thorough restoration efforts. Regulations yield compromise and order, helping authorities control herds, while bans give greater value to the forbidden game and force poachers farther from government management. [/I]

That is basicly what happens in all these African countries when they ban hunting. It has a very negative, opposite effect compared to why they do it.

Look no farther than the tiger to see what happens. Tigers have been completely protected since the early 1970's yet their numbers continue to drop. The locals in tiger areas see no economic benefit to having the cats around so when some Chinese business man tell them he will give the $500 for every dead tiger they bring him, it doesn't bode well for the tiger. Sell very expensive legal tiger permits and plow that $$$ back into the local economies and now it is worth having the cats around.

Here's a little tidbit about the elephant in Kenya. Kenya was the birthplace of the safari business and all licensed professional hunters were also game wardens and were tasked with protecting the wildlife. In the mid 1970's, Jomo Kenyatta, the President of Kenya, closed the safari business and tossed the professional hunters out of business in Kenya. The very next year the massive slaughter of elephant and rhino began in Kenya because the game wardens were no longer in the field. Want to guess which family ran the business that exported most of the ivory and rhino horn? It was owned by the daughter of none other than Jomo Kenyatta.

That is what happens in Africa when legal hunting is stopped.