In a slightly different vein, is burning ivory, of which several countries have stockpiles in the TONS...Kenya having over 100 left after having already burned some, a good idea, or is it, effectively, grandstanding in the face of the facts that selling it could both aid the conservation effort and perhaps even put a dent in the flow of money to terrorist poachers?
I would hope it'd put a huge dent in poacher income by lowering ivory's value. Like any other commodity, when a massive amount is dumped into the market the value drops. A lower sale price for ivory should thereby reduce the incentive to hunt it.
Perhaps (trying not to be Pollyannish here) a large dump might also reduce it's 'rarity' and make it less attractive to the consumers who see it as something special because it is hard to get.
