Ivory is it llegal?

Hans: I live right across from the forsenic lab mentioned in a
previous post and they had an exhibit of illegal items at the
loca natural history museum. I think lion claws would be illegal
for sure based on what I saw. The I think might be ok, I’m pretty
sure elephant hair rings are made from living animals if I
recall. If you need specific I can get their phone
number for you…Dave

After having read some of the hotter posts on this subject I
have a rhetorical and hopefully humorous question. Why is it that
’animal rights’ people concentrate on throwing scat at women
wearing furs instead of at bikers wearing leather? Geo.

Geo, Does anyone know of a site(s) for identification of the
various types of ivory and whale teeth? Any specifics between
mstadon and mamoth? Walrus is very easy with its cutainious
center. Elephant shows endgrain cross hatch patterning angle of
approx. 120+ degree and mastadon @ 60-70 pattern. thanks Marcus
Amshoff

Heather: I’m a vegetarian if that tells you anything, though I
admit to owning a leather flight jacket and shoes etc. Its just a
huge “grey” line here, there’s no black and white answer. If you
make something new out of old ivory I have no gripe with that but
then how do you prove to the law that your new item is legal? I’m
all for fossil ivory. Have to admit to being for “green” causes,
but I think the human population is out of control and it will
only take a major loss of everything we cherish on this planet
before people will act globally and by then it will be too late.
I don’t support destroying old ivory either. But I dont’ support
creating a demand for ivory either. Like I said there’s no quick
answer here. Dave

Thanks for your kind reply-this is the first time in my life
people have written to send me such support for anything I’ve
written-my dear old mom says I should have gone into
writing(mayhaps Mom Knew Best…it sure is easier to type
something than polish a platinum casting, or design a new custom
with a silly hodge-podge collection of customers’ stones-that
they want to use every one of…lol…(;c) I am astonished that NO
ONE has personally flamed me(yet)-and many of the posts I’m
getting are giving me the same kind of reaction you expessed.
Well, in my experience most human decisions and attitudes are
subject to a mechanism much like a swinging pendulum. But I
suspect it will only swing back toward rational use of body
products when there are no people poor enough, stupid enough, or
arrogant enough to poach endangered animal populations. I
wouldn’t stake anything I care about on a bet about that… As
I sit here writing this, your lot has passed through into the
new millenium while we have seven and a half hours to go…Happy
New Year’s Day to you, Rex, and you, Gabrielle,(a fine pair of
name between you)-from myself, my wife, Rebecca, my son,
Michael, and our two dogs, Megan & Snowball. May we all have a
fine year ahead! —

  but none of us have stopped eating in empathy & the
mac-lines shorten with price increases, not protest. ive

I’ve been really trying to hold my tongue here on this thread
though it seems most of you seem to have good sense about it.
The “Mac lines” have shortened however due to protest…there
has been an ongoing battle with McDonalds as they are prime
offenders in the American overconsumption of beef which is
destroying valuable farmland. In the next 20 years there is
likely to be food shortages in the USA due to the land not being
able to produce food anymore. On the humanitarian side, the
places McDonalds gets its beef from have been accused of very
poor practices which often result in cattle being skinned alive
etc. McDonald for years has lied about its products and refuses
to accept any responsibility for its actions. I remember a
lawsuit they lost over a pamplhet aimed at children telling kids
that “meat is an essential part of every breakfast.”
Vegetarians have pleaded for years for them to include a meatless
burger on its menu which the company does in Amsterdam, but has
responded that it would only be popular in certain areas of the
country and “not profitable.” They are a prime example of
corporate greed, they don’t care about future generations, they
want their money NOW. I don’t care if people eat meat personally
but in the west people eat so much of it that they die of heart
disease more than any other cause, something thats unkown in
countries that eat a more balanced diet. Our women eat so much of
it that they lose calcium from their bones and end up with
osteoporosis. McDonald’s is an American symptom of bad things to
come. If you have the stomach for it read BEYOND BEEF and you’ll
never look at that burger the same way again…Dave

Marcus, try this URL of the ivory identification page of the
international ivory society: http://www.ivoryinfo.com/identify.htm

Also an interesting article about mammoths and extinction:
http://www.american.edu/projects/mandala/TED/mammoth.htm

I may be using a better search engine than you have, try

and see how your searches go. Geo.