[A. G. Maisey]

Atlantia my dear friend, I support without reservation your right to hold your opinion in respect of ivory, and whatever else you may choose hold an opinion on.

If I have offended you because of my own opinions in respect of ratbag tree huggers and kangaroo cuddlers, then I guess you will just have to continue to be offended, because I do hold very strong views, both logical and emotional in respect of many currently unpopular and politically incorrect matters, and this elephant thing is one.

I can most definitely assure you that my words were not hasty. I expressed in a rather casual and polite fashion views that I have held for many years. Were I not so concerned with maintaining a warm and friendly persona, I could be vastly more vitriolic in respect of this issue.

I have no desire to debate this matter:- to do so would be tantamount to a radical adherent of one religion attempting to convert a radical adherent of a different religion to his own faith.

I do not see this "save the elephants" thing as a struggle between those who would collect artifacts made of elephant tusk, and those who would attempt to prevent the disappearance of a species. I see it as an irrational, illogical, and economically unsound means of controlling a commodity for which there is human demand. Quite simply what we are witnessing is the waste of a resource.

I have yet to see any ban that is effective at achieving what it sets out to achieve. Essentially a ban is a control, and any control as simplistic as a ban is just tailor made to be ignored. If the objective is to prevent the disappearance of elephants, then this objective should be subjected to risk analysis and a whole suite of controls put in place to ensure as far as possible the achievement of the objective. One such control would be implementation of quotas.

The ban mentality is in my opinion one of the insane blossoms of political incompetence.

If any of the views I have expressed above are offensive to anybody, then I suggest that you simply ignore those views, as I myself ignore those views which could be considered offensive.

I've found that I failed to comment upon something that I intended to comment upon, thus this postscript.

Atlantia, I do support intelligent conservation.
What is intelligent conservation?
An example could be the payment of subsidies by wealthy countries such as the USA and other developed countries to those countries which still retain large areas of forest, to conserve those areas of forest.

At the present time those of us who live in developed countries are getting a free ride for our lifestyles from the developing countries that still have forest. This forest is disappearing at a frightening rate, and when it has disappeared---as it will--- well, climate change? Global warming? Brother, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Elephants, whales, giant pandas, koala bears---yeah, politically popular, little issues that little people can relate to. Problems that are not too big to get your head around.

But if we want to conserve something that might make a real difference to the world we live in, its forests we should be looking at.