Yes, poaching for ivory is a problem....in other countries-many in Asia. There are only three ways to have real ivory grips. Of which I have three sets. One is mammoth ivory. That's the first way- fossil ivory whether walrus, some species of whale, mammoth, or mastodon. The second way is that the ivory was imported into this country prior to the ban on harvested ivory. IIRC that date is in 1989.
The third way is to bring back the tusks of an elephant you killed yourself.
I might be mistaken but I do not believe that you can legally sell that ivory.
Check the customs website for impounded smuggled elephant ivory. There's not much there.
Oh, by the way, many African countries have to cull their elephant herds to prevent the destruction of the elephants' available habitat. Being thrifty and prudent they harvest the ivory. Since this is done by the government it is legal-not poaching. However, under UN resolutions and other treaties these countries cannot legally sell these tons of ivory. Sure would help extremely poor countries buy food in a famine or medicine in an epidemic, now wouldn't it?
Now let's consider these lowly poachers. Without the few dollars(and it is a few, the middlemen further up the chain make the real money) they get from slaughtering animals for hides,ivory, horns, etc. what would they do to feed their families? Get a job at the local Walmart? Look at the economies of these countries. If your choice was to kill the last elelphant on earth for his tusks and to turn his legs into umbrella stands or to watch your children starve to death...what would you choose? Millions of Africans are daily facing horrible choices...the stuff of nightmare here but reality there.
African species have two chances of survival: 1)The development of local economies which leave enough habitat while negating the economic need to poach, and 2) no inexpensive treatment being developed to treat AIDS.
I prefer the first but I refuse to get on a moral high horse about people who are simply trying to put food in a hungry child's mouth. The money men up the ivory smuggling chain...yes, they're scum.
Things are rarely simple.
Also, if you were to check with an ivory dealer in the US I think you might be surprised at the scope of governmental scrutiny that his stock is, in fact,
from what was legally in the country before the ban. That's the reason that the price has gone so high in the US...supply and demand. The supply has been cut off except for fossil ivory...which is relatively rare.
My mammoth 1911 grips were $150. No problem with poaching there. The mammoth had been dead for about 13,000 years or so.
My elephant ivory 1911 grips were purchased from the company that supplies Colt and has for decades. Think they'd take the chance to purchase ivory that the provenance could not be proved?
My S&W N fram grips were purchased from a similar source. These people are doing business openly, legally, and under extreme government scrutiny and regulation. Sound familiar?
