Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

The rancher apparently is growing his herd by 200 animals a year and is currently producing a tonne of ivory per year.

The point of producing them on a ranch is to make poaching uneconomical while at the same time producing enough for the market while remaining economically viable. Poachers, on the other hand, will hunt the species down to extinction, that's their incentive.




> The point of producing them on a ranch is to make poaching uneconomical

How does it achieve that goal tho? The price of raising an elephant on a farm is quite a bit and it takes forever. The price for a poacher is essentially zero.


The rancher believes economics are on his side (why else would he be raising a 1000+ heads of rhino cattle).

The price for a poacher is not zero. They risk life, limb and prison (not that I feel sorry for them) but it's not risk free.


> The rancher believes economics are on his side (why else would he be raising a 1000+ heads of rhino cattle).

Yeah, I remain unconvinced based on this.

> The price for a poacher is not zero.

The price of life in these areas is effectively zero. It's not the higher ups who do the killing, they get some locals to do it.


On a farm, you can also sell looking at the animals (tourist attraction) and meat and leather.

You can also try to breed faster growing critters. (That's a very long term project, though.)


These are terrible suggestions.


Why?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: