Last month, CITES confirmed its commitment to legitimizing
markets for elephant ivory, rhinoceros horn, and many other products obtained
from endangered species. Among other
things, that means that stockpiles of confiscated ivory, or ivory taken from
animals that were culled or died naturally, will be either warehoused or
destroyed. But what about the ivory from
elephants in zoos, or the horns of rhinos in zoos? What happens to those very valuable wildlife
parts?
Sometimes, these products can be kept at the zoo to serve as
biofacts – educational teaching tools.
These tools can provide a hands-on experience for visitors to gain a new
appreciation of an animal, from witnessing the powerful jaws of a big cat up
close (and safely) to running their hands across a length of elephant tusk and
learning about how the demand for that substance has been responsible for the
devastation of elephant numbers in Africa and Asia. Depending on the animal, it may require a
special permit from the government to legalize its possession, and its
disposition or destruction must be reported to the government as well. This is to prevent these materials from
winding up on the black market.
Recently, I was preparing a set of rhino horns, taken from a
deceased animal, for shipment. Another
staff member walking by paused to watch me for a moment. Before she walked off, she commented that we
could probably have built a new exhibit or two with what those horns were
worth.
She was joking. Not
everyone in that position would be… nor would they be thinking of the zoo as
the recipient of that wealth.
Another option is to turn those materials over to the
government. The Fish and Wildlife
Service may use it for training purposes, such as teaching dogs to sniff out
wildlife products being smuggled into the country. They may use it for research. Or, they may destroy it to make sure that it
doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
In some cases, the government may have a new recipient in
mind for a wildlife product. Dead bald
and golden eagles, for example, are sent to a federal depository. From there, feathers, talons, and other body
parts can be dispensed to indigenous peoples for use in their rituals and
regalia. It is illegal for private
citizens to keep feathers from these birds; a zookeeper who takes home the
feather of a favorite eagle that she cares for is breaking the law and
violating the terms of the permit that the facility is caring for the birds
under. Zoos that wish to have bald or golden
eagle feathers or parts for educational purposes must have their permits
amended to reflect that. Even then, the
terms of the permit will be quite specific.
A final option? Just
destroy everything. After the necropsy
is done and the vets have had their say, often a zoo animal is incinerated
(sometimes buried, but then, if it is buried, you run the risk – albeit
unlikely - of someone coming to dig up those horns or tusks). In one sense, it may seem bitterly ironic to
for the perpetually cash-strapped conservation field to watch those very
valuable rhino horns go up in flames. In
another sense, the horns never really were worth anything, at least certainly
not compared to a real, live rhinoceros.
The challenge continues to be in getting the rest of the world to accept that point of view.
No comments:
Post a Comment