As far as the legal sale of Ivory is concerned—as long as the source is from elephants which have died naturally–that would be an ethical sale–we after all here in the US do the same with Mastodon Ivory–an extinct species that died out about 20-thousand years ago–and the sale of which goes to help support impoverished native peoples of Alaska.

The CITES folks who wrote these laws intended well but they were unqualified to write these laws because they did not realise that the laws often have an effect opposite than intended. An example of this is in Florida where developers tear up the enviroment to build homes. In the process, they cut down trees upon which are growing Orchids and Bromeliads. The law says no one may save these plants from extinction by collecting them and growing them and then perhaps putting them back out into the wilds on other trees. Thus many species have become very scarce if not extinct because of the developers and the law. Now consider that African violets are extinct in the wild but they have been saved because they are grown from nursery raised plants. The problem here is that no one is replenishing the wilds with what use to be there.