What is the appeal of ivory? Honestly, I have no idea.
Without hyperbole, I'm totally in favor of the death penalty for poachers. However, the best message to send to poachers would be the death penalty for their buyers. I don't think the threat of punishment is much of anything to criminals who slaughter large creatures for a living. If the market collapses, then the industry will disappear. Unfortunately the Chinese economy (where I assume all the poached ivory is being bought) is one of corruption and bribery, so no matter what the law says, the market will only get hotter as new ivory becomes more and more scarce. Sad.
There are conflicting reports on what Dodo tasted like. StJohn is our resident expert on the topic. If you've not already done so, I recommend reading Dodo a la Orange -great read. b_b
I remember writing this article in February 2012. Two months later a new movie came out called The Pirates! Band of Misfits in which Queen Victoria goes around eating all the rarest animals she can kill (and Charles Darwin has to stop her — great movie!) But to my amazement they cracked the exact same joke about "Dodo à l'orange" that I did. You can imagine me sputtering with delight and indignation in the cinema. But about the elephants, I've read that the number of tusk-less elephants has been steadily climbing over the 20th century. They're apparently evolving quite rapidly to survive the ivory trade. Science is neat.
I bet most poachers live shitty lives ridden with poverty and ignorance. I am sure in the face of having nothing having something, even if it means killing an elephant, sounds pretty good. While I am in favor of the death penalty for no one, I think going after the buyers with the money would be a more enlightened policy.