Dr. Eric Dorfman, the Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin Director of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, recently wrote about the complicated practice of burning ivory on his blog. Check out an excerpt from his blog below:
“I just read an interesting blog post from National Geographic—“Does Destroying Ivory Save Elephants? Experts Weigh In.” Of course, a big public display of destroying artworks made from illegally hunted elephants makes an impact. National Geographic garnered the opinions of thinkers from all over the world, and their perspectives are equally varied.
For me, those people who are predisposed to thinking poorly of the ivory trade won’t be any more swayed by its destruction. They will continue to do what they can to protect elephants which, in most cases, is very little.
On the other hand, those people who value ivory artworks for their rarity (noting that China is the biggest market for this) might, in many ways, appreciate the burning of confiscated stashes, in that there is now less ivory in which other people can invest.”
Continue reading the full post.
