Wild life Conservation and weapon collecting.......

katana · 4th November 2006, 06:21 PM

One of the early believed 'properties' of Rhino horn was that it could counteract poisons....hence the reason for many 'quality' drinking vessels in Asia, Europe and Africa were made of horn.......poison was often the weapon of choice at that time.
The belief persisted for some time, it seems that no-one tried to prove/disprove the theory

Tim Simmons · 4th November 2006, 07:18 PM

Big game hunting makes a massive contribution to conservation. It also probably benefits the tribal people more than the pure conservation Douglas mentions. Which often well intentioned, can end up valuing the animals more than people.

katana · 4th November 2006, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

Big game hunting makes a massive contribution to conservation. It also probably benefits the tribal people more than the pure conservation Douglas mentions. Which often well intentioned, can end up valuing the animals more than people.

I agree Tim....the art of conservation is not to 'single' out species that need 'special' attention.....it is to view the eco-system as a whole. If animals are left un-checked ....especially where their natural predators are in low numbers.... population 'explosions' occur which often has a detrimental 'knock on' effect on the local fauna and flora.
There was an interesting programme on recently about small lion groups living wild in INDIA (!!??), I missed the reason as to why they are there. However, even though there had been a few attacks on humans..the locals (generally living in poverty)were very keen that the preservation of these lions was extremely important to them.
The devistation of the Rainforest in South America and Equatorial Africa has had significant repocussions to the local Tribes....hunting food is increasingly difficult as there is less game, and larger numbers are unable to provide for their families forcing many to 'adopt' Western livestyles.

Many tribes were/are fully aware of the importance of 'living in harmony with nature'...never taking more than they need...to ensure 'Nature' had a chance to replenish it's 'stock'.

Its ironic that 'Western civilisation' fails to understand this concept, and it is their actions that are destroying those that do.

4th November 2006, 06:21 PM	#1
katana Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Kent Posts: 2,658	One of the early believed 'properties' of Rhino horn was that it could counteract poisons....hence the reason for many 'quality' drinking vessels in Asia, Europe and Africa were made of horn.......poison was often the weapon of choice at that time. The belief persisted for some time, it seems that no-one tried to prove/disprove the theory

4th November 2006, 07:18 PM	#2
Tim Simmons Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: What is still UK Posts: 5,843	Big game hunting makes a massive contribution to conservation. It also probably benefits the tribal people more than the pure conservation Douglas mentions. Which often well intentioned, can end up valuing the animals more than people.