Thanks Mark. I still have questions, how to regulate? - there are loopholes and ways around everything.
Back to the original post, Ron Lake's choice to use Rhino. It is a "stain" on his reputation as far as i'm concerned.
David
Regulation is a matter for our very good enforcement professionals, at the border and within the country. They are very good, during the legal ivory sale from Africa last year I recieved two emails from people with some for sale, I did not know if it was legal to import it to the United States so I called the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ask. They already knew about the would-be importers and actually would not tell me if it was legal or not to import. They were going to leave it up to me to make that decision, as it turns out it would have been a mistake. When pressed, the Fish and Wildlife officials finally told me to ask the ivory dealers for copies of their import documents, when I did that these importers evaporated into the same thin air they came from. I am certain that if I had made a deal to perchase some of that elephant ivory I would have been in big trouble. I suspect that one or both of the importers were in fact enforcment agents. It is pretty well known among dealers of wildlife parts that a high percentage of the calls we get from people with illegal stuff for sale are undercover agents, the guys that buy that stuff get arrested.
I am not at the center of the rhino horn and elephant issues in that I have not researched it as much as some other things but I can tell you that we have heard all the same things said about poaching the hot button spieces in Alaska and the 48 states and I can tell you that most of those things you hear are just not true. There is not a big market for illicit animal parts. I have been around this stuff for a long time, we hear the stories but it's kind of like an honest pollitician, you are kind of sure one exists but you have never really seen one. I can tell you that there are not a bunch of people running around killing bears for their gall bladders.
It wasn't you but one person said people making products (knives) from materials like this are just greedy, making money from endangered species, nothing can be further from the truth, of all the knife makers I know, none of them are greedy, none of them are carving a fat hog, many of them save up money for the next nice knife build. They want to make pieces of art with some traditional (classic) materials, like the old days. There are lots of easier ways to make a living.
Many people know that I like to use exotic materials, and I will use legal pre-ban material but I will not use or sell material with unknown origin, ethics asside for just a moment, it is just not smart to do so. People are watching. I hope that my use of legal preban materials does not "stain" my reputation but I learned a long time ago that I am not likely to ever make everyone happy. I do hope that we can all discuss things civilly.
I am sorry but anyone (again not you) that says conservation does not work is just uninformed or out of touch, but more probably has his own agenda.
Ah. So you want to destroy all man-made structures (buildings, roads), kill about 95% of the worlds population, restore the habitats and start all over again?