Well, I figure there’s a distinction between an actual moron (i.e. someone with a learning disability) and a fucking moron (someone who is stupid by choice, who believes things for which no evidence exists and would realize how fucking moronic the belief was if they ever thought about it honestly for two seconds).
Shortchanging blind people is sufficiently far removed for me to be unconcerned by your attempt at linkage.
I can’t be the only one who read this as 14kg of f in a pd, or whatever that thing is.
Which is why I’m here…This was the third result for when I googled “rhino ranching.” :dubious:
Does a rhinoceros have any practical use for its horn? That is, if you harvest horns from living rhinos (the purpose of the proposed ranch), will it interfere with their mating rituals, or anything? And, will a severed rhino horn grow back?
If the alternative is no more Rhinos, why not?
You appear to have unfounded assumptions about why rhino horn is used. It has nothing to do with the prowess of capturing a rhino. The bulk of people using it aren’t bragging to their friends and potential fuck-mates “Hey, I’m using rhino horn as an aphrodisiac, aren’t I so cool.” The point of buying rhino horn is that it is believed to be an aphrodisiac because it is shaped like a penis. Ergo, they go to the store and say “I want an aphrodisiac” and then get given the rhino horn. It may be that the customer doesn’t even know it is rhino horn, only that they are getting their requested product - the aphrodisiac.
So? We farm cattle for food and leather. We farm buffalo for the same thing. Why not farm rhinos for their horns? I mean, economically it may not work, but how is it ethically different?
The proposed premise is that by farming the rhinos, you create a legal method of obtaining the horns, and by doing so at scale, you promote raising more rhinos - just like cattle. Sure, there is rhino turnover, but the market makes the rhino numbers increase and the price for horn decrease, which makes illegal rhino horn more expensive and less profitable, because they would have to fake the authentication papers as well. “This Rhino horn certified 100% farm grown.” Have a government inspector and a special seal on each shipment.
That is a valid criticism. The point of the original assignment might be to consider not just the effect on rhino population or the costs associated, but also the effect on conservationist efforts in general, and possible habitat loss.
Possibly, but if we’re ranching the rhinos, we have economic incentive to keep actual rhino numbers up. Profit motive to the rescue.
But if the market prices come down because of numbers, and there is instituted a inspection and certification system to ensure only farmed rhino horns are legal, then the incentive for the buyers to use illegal horn goes down, because it is cheaper to get the legal kind anyway. Isn’t this exactly the argument used for legalizing drugs like marijuana?
I don’t know how well they grow in captivity, but aren’t buffalo big hostile animals? What about emus and ostriches? All of those are farmed for meat.
Isn’t that the exact same argument about legalizing drugs? Aren’t drug dealers murdering bastards who will do anything to protect their profit margin? So you think legalizing marijuana would have the same or different results? Why or why not?
That is a valid point. Why protect habitat for wild rhinos? Their numbers are up in captivity.
Rhinos use the horn for defense and for dueling in mate selection, just like most animals use their horns. I do not think rhino horns grow back.
I still think that we should race the megafauna.
Because we haven’t determined that wild rhino aren’t a necessity for the local environment. Besides, we are talking about protection for the wild rhino and their environment.
Sorry, that wasn’t an actual argument, it was an example of the argument someone might use.
Can we have rhino rodeos? How 'bout megafauna jausting?
Well, unless you’ve got some cites backing up this interpretation, I’m going to stick with my original premise - that idiots buy rhino horn because to them the rhino is an exotic animal with expensive parts, giving them a chance to engage in wishful thinking and conspicuous consumption. If the consumer really is ignorant of or indifferent to the ingredients of a folk-medicine-hawker’s product, the rhinos are safe because I expect the hawker won’t bother with the trouble and expense of getting actual rhino horn, when any powdered crap will do.
Actually, we seem to be falling prey to the thought that rhino horn is an aphrodisiac. According to Cecil, it is not.
So, why would the retailer go through the bother to get actual rhino horn? Because they think they are practicing a form of medicine, and actually trying to cure illnesses, so they have to use the actual products they think will have the effects they desire. If they didn’t use actual rhino horn, they would know they were giving “crap” to their customer, and expect it not to work, and expect their customer to not get well and thus not come back again.
Perhaps this particular subset of students ought to visit Africa. And try some Rhino Wrangling in the wild. Lassoing, bulldogging & herding them would be loads of fun!
Are we misunderstanding the OP? “Can we…” seems to be a question of practicality. All the objections raised above are operative, but none are definitive of the OP’s question. He seems to be requesting some ultimate answer without specifying all the circumstances. We are left to define these for ourselves.
To re-state: given whatever economic circumstances we wish to postulate, and given whatever means we choose to achieve the end result, is it possible under *any *scenario to preserve a large, charismatic species, as a species, by maintaining it in semi-captivity in a managed situation? Or will the objections above result inevitably in failure?
BTW, rhino horn continues to grow throughout life, just as do hair and nails. If a horn is sawed off, it will still grow from the base, although slowly, and with the blunt “top” remaining.
Who’s we, pal?
But the customer won’t get well even if it is genuine rhino horn (or at least he won’t get well because it is genuine rhino horn). Hence my original suggestion to just flood the market with fake rhino horn powder, while charging an inflated price for it to satisfy customers that since it’s expensive, it must be the real thing, since price and exotic labels seem to be all that matters, instead of efficacy.
The problem is that the poachers are simply exploiting a resource, (endangered, I acknowledge), in an attempt to provide for their family, living in abject poverty.
You can ranch all the rhinos you like, it doesn’t change anything for the poacher. He’s still got a family to feed, and there is still a lucrative market for rhino horn. A ranch will insure a handful of poachers become ranchers only. The rest will still be left in abject poverty looking for a way to feed their families. If it means undercutting the price that ranched rhino sells for, so be it.
Besides, the Asians will just decide that ‘free range’ rhino horn is far superior, more than likely, actually increasing both the price and the poaching.
I’d call this solution a fail!
Well, there’s
And then there’s
You didn’t argue the point, so you seem to be included in “we”.
I’m not arguing against your proposal to sell fake rhino horn to the people who want rhino horn, I’m arguing that the people who are buying it are buying it because it is rare and difficult to obtain. There’s no evidence that their motivation has anything to do with “I can get rhino horn and you can’t” and plenty of reason to believe their motivation is “rhino horn has these amazing properties”.
I don’t see how anything you’ve quoted suggests I should be lumped in with people who believe rhino horn is an aphrodisiac. Quite the opposite, actually.
Anyway, their precise motivation is irrelevant even your assessment is correct, which I doubt. Idiots are buying rhino horn because they believe rhino horn has medicinal properties. This is not supported by any empirical evidence I’m aware of, yet they buy it anyway. In order to preserve rhinos, sell the idiots fake horn. They won’t know the difference. Just be sure to tell them it’s rhino, and high-quality expensive rhino at that.
I’m not saying you believe rhino horn is an aphrodisiac. I am lumping you in the group that assumed people are buying rhino horn because they think it is an aphrodisiac, which Cecil says is not the case. They are buying rhino horn to cure the flu, etc.
I guess your solution would work if you move the salesmanship back one level.
Sell the fake rhino horn to the TCM practitioners rather than the customers.
Sure, sell to anyone in the chain who will buy a fake and not know it, or buy a fake and not care.