Lindsay Miller answers “Elephants' tusks are mostly why they are...”

Melville Capps asked this question about Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel:

Elephants' tusks are mostly why they are killed by man. If we can remove their tusks, either by genetic modification (Safina said that about 1 in 100 elephants do not develop tusks) or by removing the tusks at a young age then there will be no tusks, no ivory, and little reason for man to kill elephants. There is precedent in hog farming. The tusks of young boars are removed. What do you think ?

Lindsay Miller Some places they are starting to apply a pink dye to their tusks, which doesn't harm the animal but makes the ivory worthless. (At least, as long as p…moreSome places they are starting to apply a pink dye to their tusks, which doesn't harm the animal but makes the ivory worthless. (At least, as long as pink ivory doesn't become fashionable?)
As for "genetic modification" I think you are alluding more to selective breeding, which in a sense humans are already doing by killing those with the biggest tusks, and removing those genes from the pool. Traumatizing young animals is no solution. Either way, you're talking about removing something which evolved because it served a purpose, something integral to what makes an elephant. Don't change the victims, change the perpetrators. (less)

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