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Originally Posted by Bob A
I see little difference between this sort of destruction, and the wholesale destruction of world heritage sites by ignorant fundamentalists.
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Agreed, both are guided by blind self righteousness. On the British
Antiques Roadshow (recently in the US, last year in the UK) there was an especially acerebric representative from one such advocacy group arguing for the destruction of
all ivory countered by a V&A curator with the more reasonable view that destroying antique cultural heritage was not the correct measure to save elephants.
Some possibly good news is that I just read in the
Maine Antique Digest (July 2016, p 3-A) that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a final rule effective on June 6 that the paper describes as "... will make dealers and collectors jump through a lot of hoops, but in the current political climate I think it's the best result the trade could have hoped for ... burden will be on the seller to prove that objects qualify, but the rule does not require expensive forensic testing. A qualified appraisal, with strict guidelines, will suffice."
USFWS Final Rule Effective on July 16, 2016