The last male specimen of the Northern White Rhinoceros has died. There are just two female specimens left. There are hopes that IVF techniques might be used with other rhinos to regenerate the subspecies. But what is equally depressing is the news that the world population of rhinos is only about 35,000.
This situation is partially (or perhaps even largely) blamed on the poaching for rhino horn - believed to be an aphrodisiac by some cultures. Elephants are in similar rapid decline due to ivory poaching.
There appears to be a campaign to destroy all stocks of ivory artifacts - removing all ivory will, it is hoped, remove its attraction as a valuable material. This seems misguided to me, how do you reduce a material's value by increasing its rarity? Surely, this will make it more attractive as a substance of value and increase the possibility of poaching. There will be a black market for ivory and its value will soar. As its value increases so will the likelihood of poaching - by better armed and better equipped poachers. Surely, if stocks of ivory were dumped onto the open market its attraction would decrease and its value would plummet. poaching would cease to have any reward.
In similar vein - if the message could be promoted that, say, rhino horn use would result in a massive increase in girls being conceived rather than boys, this may make it less attractive. My guess is that the cultures who believe rhino horn to be effective are also those who value boys more than girls.
