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I've argued this before, media shaming could be really effective here. Ivory dealers as incompetent villains. Pathetic ivory consumers. It's not an addiction, it's a status symbol. Destroy the status.

Superman vs the kkk was super effective.

> Elephants take at least 20 years to start growing tusks but the 'big tuskers' are ~50 years old.

Trees also take decades to grow, and yet tree farms are a viable economy.

> Also, you won't be able to produce ivory cheaper than a poacher who doesn't have to invest into the elephant.

So the elephant rancher shoots the poacher. That's what we used to do when cattle rustling was a thing, and it worked pretty well.

> Also they are an extremely intelligent and social species and one of the species that come up in "non-human personhood" discussions.

Frankly, I don't care. Pigs are pretty damned intelligent too, but bacon tastes wonderful. Neither pigs nor elephants are men, and I'm find with killing them.

> Establishing legal frameworks and enforcing laws in Africa is very easy.

It was easier when Africa was better-run, but it can be done again.

> > Elephants are going extinct because no-one has an interest in keeping them alive. Give someone a reason to keep them alive, and the species will last forever.

> It's a lot more complex than that.

No, that is exactly the problem. Species which are useful to man survive; species which are not die; species which are inimical to man are destroyed. We're talking about exterminating mosquitoes, for Pete's sake!

If you want an animal to survive, figure out a way for it to be in someone powerful's interest. The rest will follow as day follows the night.

> Trees also take decades to grow, and yet tree farms are a viable economy.

How much does it cost to grow a tree? It costs quite a bit to raise an elephant.

> So the elephant rancher shoots the poacher. That's what we used to do when cattle rustling was a thing, and it worked pretty well.

You are implying that in your plan there would be no elephants in the wild right? Also can you tell me a bit about your knowledge of animal and in particular elephant husbandry?

> Frankly, I don't care. Pigs are pretty damned intelligent too, but bacon tastes wonderful. Neither pigs nor elephants are men, and I'm find with killing them.

Well not everyone is a psychopath so there's that.

> It was easier when Africa was better-run, but it can be done again.

I like your detailed plan. Also what African countries in particular are you talking about?

> We're talking about exterminating mosquitoes, for Pete's sake!

Idk how that's related? Do you have some device that turns poachers into mosquitoes? Do you?

> If you want an animal to survive, figure out a way for it to be in someone powerful's interest. The rest will follow as day follows the night.

Fuck yeah, fuck ethics, fuck empathy for intelligent beings, fuck ecosystems, libertarianism fuck yeah! On some level I envy you that you have one belief system you think works for everything.

>> You are implying that in your plan there would be no elephants in the wild right?

No, I think the idea is that once we have elephant breeded on ranches then the ivory becomes cheap and easily available thus making poaching business not profitable anymore, making wild elephants safe.

Of course the problem with that approach is that raising an elephant is not cheap, so ivory from domesticated elephants won't be that much cheaper. Unless you can make enough money on elephant's meat, which is also unlikely, since, as someone in this thread noticed, growing nice pair of tusks takes 50 years, and meat of old animals tend to taste much worse than that from younger ones.

I saw plenty of domesticated elephants in Thailand (and I assume all of South East Asia). Are African elephant some how different when it comes to this?

Those were tamed. Domesticated means selectively bred. Those animals that you saw might have seemed tame, but they are actually pretty dangerous.