Some may have seen this...some may have not. Hope it helps at least one person.
http://www.cuemakers.org/aboutivory.htm
http://www.cuemakers.org/aboutivory.htm
Cuemakers using Ivory
- Thread starter a9ballbr8k
- Start date
I have had a love affair with Ivory, since I was a little boy. My Grandfather had 2 tusks framing his fireplace. He also had other Ivory carvings, throughout the house. I use only leagal Ivory in my cues. I have been a hunter, my whole life. There is no way that a tusk harvested in 1964 in Kenya, is going to depleet the Eliphant heards of the world. I am against poaching of any animal. I respect the laws that regulate all of our lives. I will continue to use leagal Ivory...JER
I don't use Ivory!
As long as there is a market for Ivory (legal or not), these animals will be killed needlessly!
As long as there is a market for Ivory (legal or not), these animals will be killed needlessly!
Sad thing is the are warehouses full of Ivory in Africa, and the USA, held by U.S. Customs, and Authorities in Africa. If they released it for sale I am sure the illegal trafficking would stop.
As most things are in life, it isn't exactly a simple issue. The author of the linked essay is an expert on ivory, probably the best in the country. He only buys aged preban ivory, and has been helpful to authorities in the capture of those involved in the illegal trade. From one perspective, supporting him is supporting the crackdown of illegal ivory, therefore supporting the fight against poaching.
I have read/seen articles talking about the guards of reservations having trouble affording bullets to fight off criminals who would want to break in and steal the ivory they have stockpiled that they can't sell. They can't afford the high cost of health treatment to the herd that they were once able to due to sales of ivory after the weak members of the herd died or were culled.
Who knows how much of it all is propaganda. The simple fact is that elephant ivory, if properly managed, is a renewable resource. If left alone, due to civilization encroachment, lost of habitat, and poaching, herds left to fend for themselves are less healthy than managed herds. It is true if there suddenly was absolutely zero demand for ivory around the world, poaching would stop. That isn't going to happen. If obtained legally from a reliable source and the sale and distribution of cues is followed within the legal limits of the law, it should boil down to personal preference and personal conscience whether one wants to use a 30 year old piece of ivory in a cue that otherwise would just sit on a shelf or be burned.
Kelly
I have read/seen articles talking about the guards of reservations having trouble affording bullets to fight off criminals who would want to break in and steal the ivory they have stockpiled that they can't sell. They can't afford the high cost of health treatment to the herd that they were once able to due to sales of ivory after the weak members of the herd died or were culled.
Who knows how much of it all is propaganda. The simple fact is that elephant ivory, if properly managed, is a renewable resource. If left alone, due to civilization encroachment, lost of habitat, and poaching, herds left to fend for themselves are less healthy than managed herds. It is true if there suddenly was absolutely zero demand for ivory around the world, poaching would stop. That isn't going to happen. If obtained legally from a reliable source and the sale and distribution of cues is followed within the legal limits of the law, it should boil down to personal preference and personal conscience whether one wants to use a 30 year old piece of ivory in a cue that otherwise would just sit on a shelf or be burned.
Kelly
In the link his information about CITIES is mostly correct, he dosent have all the facts there-he left out some things. What he left out was the specifice of certain countries. He has nothing about game managment or the lack of it, there are pleanty of elephants in Africa(dont worry about that).
Most of the warehouse ivory goes to China(they buy it at auctions).
Sometimes they burn it-they pile it up in 20' tall pyrmids and light it up. Because it is so pleatiful there they dont really care. Africa is a funny deal the whole way around, they dont look at the $$$. Its a totally different world than ours, I have lived there for 6 months and was still a fish out of water.
Most of it is confiscated from poachers they catch or what is found in the bush.