Quote from: D on December 03, 2012, 08:33:27 PM
Why is there even a law for fossils in the first place?
because fossils are depending on which govco you hear it from, either a national treasure (China is particularly into that), or a mineral resource (like Gold, or Diamonds), and are treated accordingly (and to be kinda fair, it can fetch a lot of money). Then there are (in the US and Canada at least), issues with property rights (a lot of land where excavations take place are government property) and contracts, though why they should give a shit if it's on public land is beyond me. It
is supposed to be public, right? (EDIT: plus, many of the laws either don't work, or are counter-productive: we've been having this ""war" on smugglers" for at least 20 years--it dates back to when Sue the T-rex was found, if not before)
and of course, there is the belief that they should be studied by paleontologists and not used for profit. Frankly though, if you simply made it legal to trade in say, a Tarbosaurus, and just provide the incentive for collectors to send what they got to the paleontologists for study (or better yet, have paleontologists handle the excavation and field study for them, so that the context and environment could be studied, as well as the fossils proper), there would be no need for a ban or any real govco restrictions. Paleontologists need to realize this though, but many don't seem to get that--at least that's the impression I get.
and of course, there is China...they just shoot whoever they find, and they have IIRC agreements with the US on them matter.