There is something truly majestic about big animals. In theory, there is nothing worse about gratuitously killing a whale or rhino or elephant than killing any other animal. But I know that I at least feel genuine anger at those who kill these magnificent animals either for sport or to get a small part of them to make trinkets and ornaments (in the case of ivory from elephant tusks) or for superstitious and trivial reasons (the belief that rhino horns contain aphrodisiacs).

The thought that people kill these animals just in order to take a tiny part of it and leave the rest of the huge carcasses to rot is infuriating. And the reason poachers do this is because there is a market for it in countries like China and America and the money made from it goes to fund all manner of groups that the US considers to be terrorists.

You would think that the last reason alone would be enough to crack down on the loopholes that allow ivory trade but The Daily Show points out that the gun lobby opposes taking any such action.

(This clip aired on November 12, 2014. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post. If the videos autoplay, please see here for a diagnosis and possible solutions.)