I'm disgusted. You talk too casually of killing, sir. Killing someone or even some animal is a serious thing, not to be taken lightly. I cringe when you want to introduce hunting poachers as entertainment for rich and spoiled sociopaths. You ARE joking, right?
I'm not anti hunting, in fact I myself used to hunt. I realize that the hunting is necessary for the survival of certain animals, when they are well managed. The hunting I, and many others in my community used to do is completely different from the so called Big game hunting. The animals hunted lived in the wild (on my familiys property) and we shot them for food, plain and simple, that means that the animal I shot ended up in my freezer. This is not the same as flying half way around the world to shoot a large animal, simply for the joy of watching it die, and then return home with some "trophy". The major difference is the feeling towards nature. I, and others like me, would like to preserve the nature around me, and leave it in the same state as when I arrived. The killing of the animal for entertainment is not what is intended, rather to be a part of nature, to manage the population and provide food, and of course the bonding experience with your hunting buddies. Though I have lost my interest in the hunting and killing of animals after some life experiences, this does not mean that I feel hunting is wrong in and of itself.
I realize that selling licences to these wealthy big game hunters have been instrumental in some areas of Africa in preserving some of the large game. I think it is unfortunate that we should have to depend on these people, since the motivation of these hunters are simply killing as large a specimen as possible, resulting in a decline in quality of the game. If you think for one second that these hunters travel for their keen interest in ecology and game management, think again. They don't care about the nature,they just want to shoot an elephant from the hood of a range rover. Sadly, since they bring so much money in, there is a temptation for locals to make game reserves (where only hunting animals are preserved) to bring them in, with little or no interest in preserving the ecology of the area. This of course is not a good thing for ecologists or indeed the locals. The prime motivation for game management should be to preserve the local nature, not to make some bloody amusement park for rich bastards.
With regard to selling confiscated ivory it is a well known fact in economics that bringing down the prices will increase the demand for a desired product. More product on the market = increased supply=>decreased prices (the illegal product becomes cheaper to compete with the legal product. The confiscated product does not replace the illegal product, instead there is ample opportunity to forge licences etc. With rampant corruption, this has to end badly. The people in charge of burning the ivory are not stupid. Their actions are informed by bitter and hard bought experience in the war against the illegal trade.
