GENEVA (Reuters) - Christmas gift buyers should avoid coral jewelry, crocodile skin and Beluga caviar if they want to enjoy a guilt-free holiday season, the nature protection group WWF said on Tuesday.
Ummm, so far, so good.
The Swiss-based body, the World Wide Fund for Nature, included the three on a list of 10 items whose commercial exploitation was endangering animal and plant species already threatened with extinction.
Well-wishers imbued with the Santa Claus spirit should also avoid buying tiger products or tigers for pets, it said.
"All international trade of tiger products, whether used in traditional Asian medicine, as souvenirs or for good luck charms, is illegal," the WWF declared in a statement.
Okay. I think I'm safe here so far.
Ivory in any form should also be avoided, it admonished, because the ivory trade was threatening the survival of elephants whose tusks are its primary source.
They don't use ivory on piano keyboards any more, so I'm still doing fine.
Caspian Sea sturgeon, the source of Beluga caviar, face extinction due to illegal plunder and should only be bought in jars certified by CITES, the United Nation's agency fighting trade in endangered species, the WWF warned.
Caviar is a nasty substance. The widdle sturgeons have nothing to fear from ME.
High fashion shahtoosh scarves woven from the hair of Tibetan antelopes should be avoided altogether. "To obtain the wool, the antelope has to be killed," the WWF said.
Umm, I suppose it must be quite a nice substance, but I'm not THAT impressed by what I'm seeing here... and no, I'm not hankering for one of them. Besides, they're highly illegal. I'm not into illegal stuff.
Many cactus species are banned from international trade. "There is a flourishing illegal trade which is wiping out native populations, particularly from Mexico," WWF warned.
Cacti don't thrive in Iowa anyway; why would I want to own one?
Finally, the WWF advised shoppers to avoid buying appliances like televisions and stereos that consume large amounts of electricity while on standby, arguing that the drain on energy they present was another threat to the environment.
Whoa... wait a minute here. Weren't we talking about endangered species and stuff? Suddenly we take a poke at TELEVISIONS and STEREOS? Sounds to me like the typical enviro-Nazi sweeping generalization thing going on here. We have all these specific no-no items, which seem to have specific reasons for them to be OFF one's Christmas list. But TELEVISIONS and STEREOS? And for the vague reason that the drain on energy from when they're on STANDBY mode is somehow a threat to the environment... we don't give any specifics, of course, and nevermind that an appliance or electronic device uses only tiny amounts of energy to keep itself on "standby" (I'm assuming this means "off", when the only energy it consumes is that which it requires to keep its digital clocks on time). Somehow it's a threat.
Puh-leeeze.
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