Poachers kill elephants for their tusks; it would make sense to remove the tusks surgically so as to make it futile, but apparently elephants need tusks.
Therefore, why not dye the tusks with a penetrating red dye, so the tusks remain functional but lose their commodity value.
Poachers could see from a fair distance that it was not worth wasting a bullet.-- FloridaManatee, May 13 2004 would a change of colour have any impact on ivory as a chinese medicine / aphrodisiac? http://news.bbc.co....sci/tech/276241.stm [po, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004] do elephants like cherry flavour? http://www.oralheal...osing%20Tablets.htm [po, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004] Harp Seal spraying http://www.greenpea...ails?item_id=455020 [DrBob, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004] it would have to soak right in or they would merely shave off the top layer. what a neat idea!-- po, May 13 2004 I would like to see the process being done--from a safe distance, of course.-- bristolz, May 13 2004 Elephants do ok w/o tusks. Selective pressure from poachers has increased the rate of congenitally tuskless elephants from about 1/20 to 1/4, or so I have read. Darwin at work!-- bungston, May 13 2004 This is a very good idea but in order to work well it would have to be unversally applied. For example, if it were applied in half of the elephant-rich places and succeeded in eliminationg the ivory trade there, then it would reduce the availabitlity of ivory, the price of which would then rise, providing even more incentive for the poachers in the other places to hunt for ivory.
On the other hand it wouldn't have to be state-sponsored or even sanctioned. Environmental activists could go on safari holidays and slip away secretly to shoot the tusks with dye darts on their own initiative.-- dobtabulous, May 13 2004 I say you catch the poachers and dye them. Makes them easier to spot.-- phundug, May 13 2004 Detusking elephants seems like a better option, provided it doesn't put them at a disadvantage to natural poachers.-- DrCurry, May 13 2004 What a great idea! I'm not at all certain it would have an impact, but it's boffo in its own right.-- phoenix, May 13 2004 I strongly disapprove of scarlet teeth.-- AO, May 13 2004 The teeth of poachers should be pulled. Biblical retribution: a tooth for a tusk (by weight, of course).-- ldischler, May 13 2004 Why do elephants paint their tusks red? So they can hide in the strawberry patch.
Have you ever seen an elephant in a strawberry patch? No? That proves it works!-- phundug, May 13 2004 Perhaps something could be added to their diet to make their tusks grow red. Of course, this may just create a market for red ivory.-- Worldgineer, May 13 2004 They would still hack off the feet and stuff.
They don't just go after tusks.-- DesertFox, May 13 2004 What DesertFox said, the problem with that is that poachers will track the animal not knowing what color the tusks are and then when they see that it doesn't have tusks they will kill it anyway so they don't have to worry about tracking it down again.-- sartep, May 13 2004 How about head mounted machine guns for elephants. Even-up the competition a bit! You would need pretty big ear mufflers for an elephant though.-- WYBloke, May 14 2004 This concept was used on the white coats of baby harp seals.-- waugsqueke, May 14 2004 [waugs] - how?-- Detly, May 14 2004 linky for you, Detly.-- DrBob, May 14 2004 Greenpeace. Is there anything they can't work global warming into?-- Detly, May 14 2004 I would guess it's hard for anyone to find something that won't be affected by global warming. Considering it's, you know, global.
(trimmed up a bit of off-topic affect/effect debate, of which I was incorrect - thanks bris)-- Worldgineer, May 14 2004 My toast, rendered black. Yet I know the true culprit: Damn global warming.-- Detly, May 14 2004 I'll drink a toast to that.-- k_sra, May 14 2004 I take just a bit of butter with my toasts.-- Letsbuildafort, May 14 2004 However on a far more grave though colorful note, I could see the tie-dye elephant tusk market emerging.-- Letsbuildafort, May 14 2004 random, halfbakery