Standard Ollivander wand cores consist of unicorn tailhairs, phoenix tailfeathers and dragon heartstrings. The feathers and tailhairs are easy enough to come by and does not require the animals to die but is this the case for dragon heartstrings? As we see in the Harry Potter books, dragon products and ingredients are used often. Does that mean dragons are raised and slaughtered like cattle just for their livers, flesh, dragon heartstrings and much more? Would that be the real purpose for dragon reservations? If not, than would dragon numbers be seriously at risk?

I've had the same thought. Especially because my wand has hippogriff talon in it. I can't imagine someone killing a dragon. It's really hard to do, even with magic. I'm sure that theiir parts still retain magical qualities when they die. Yes, yes I'm going to have to believe the creatures are already dead.

I don't think Hermione would stand by and let dragons get slaughtered for wands anyway.

I imagine that dragons would live for a very, very long time being both reptiles and extremely large. It seems unlikely to me that they simply die of 'natural causes' and also the numerous amounts of dragon related products all have to come from somewhere. It just seems infeasible to me that there are large numbers of dragons just dropping dead although I agree that those that do die of natural causes do retain magical abilities and can be used to a wizards advantage.

As for Hermonie protesting, yes I do think that she would be against it but not as much as house elves due to the fact that house elves have a much harder time sticking up for themselves than a dragon does. Look at how much she was scared of the one trapped in Gringotts when she, Harry and Ron escaped on it.

As for killing a dragon, I agree that it would be difficult to do, but not impossible. Look that the giants. They are just as tough as dragons and their numbers were greatly depleted during the 1st wizard war where Auras were given permission to kill those working in leagues with Lord Voldemort. So trained and skilled wizards were able to them. I think it would be just as likely for dragons.

They better not be killing dragons for wands!! How cruel and heartless would that be?! Now you mention it it does point towards a cattle like lifestyle. poor dragons. I LOVE dragons! They are my everything...*sniff* stupid wizards...

Yes there are a load of different dragon products but they are meant to be really expensive...I suppose that might be because of how hard they are to kill...and it would kind of add a plus to the killing of them if the murderers would get more money out of it.

Still...I think it is just as cruel if not more cruel than enslaving house elves because the poor dragons DIE! The elves live on and most of them have happy lives now!

This is a really good topic by the way. It is about time someone stood up for the dragons...even if they can stand up for themselves.

I never really thought about it that way. My wand contains Dragon Heartstring, so it's an interesting concept. I don't think that they would have done that. But then again, you have to think if they used these materials so much, where did they come from? And, I agree. I think we would of heard something about it from Hermione if they actually did that.

hmmm... could it be that the wizards capture the dragons then they "Put them to sleep" as the anestesiologist does when we are going into surgery? maybe they use a spell to disengage a heart string from the body of the dragon then it lives as if nothing happens as soon as it wakes up? kind of like a surgery that is preformed by doctors now a-days?

Thats a very far-out guess but as well as any of the answers written so far they could all be true

Andrew

I think of it like this, quite simple:

There is quite a small wizard population in the world, I won't say any numbers 'cause then there'll be a discussion about that, but I imagine not too many. There might not be that many dragons around, but they're quite large creatures aren't they? I mean, from one dragon you could probably make over 2ooo dragon skin gloves or something, so if we say about 2 or 3 dragons die a year in a smaller country (think Schweiz or something...), it would be very much enough to fullfill peoples needs.

And it is pointed out quite clearly that dragon products aren't really the cheapest alternatives on the market...

I do think that some dragons are raised and slaughtered for clothes, potion ingredients, and wand cores. However as Weaxzezz pointed out it would only take a few for a large amount of supplies. Besides there are many other uses for dragons that they live through. For example the goblins use dragons to guard vaults in Gringots, and they are used for competitions to, like the Triwizard Tournament.

I have to contradict The Happy Dementor on her point about it being crueler to kill dragons for supplies than enslaving house elves because house elves are intelligent and gentle creatures, when one the other hand some would say that dragons are dumb and monstrous.

Besides dragons aren't the only magical creatures used for things like that. Unicorns have their horns ground up and their tail hairs plucked for wands and potions all the time.

If the dragon numbers were in decline becuase of them being slaughtered for their parts, wouldn't they be allowed to reproduce before killing them? Allowing them to breed at least once before their slaughter would keep the species going extinct. Besides, don't muggles slaughter animals anyway, cows, sheep, pigs. How is a dragon's life more valuable than any of these? Or, they could have only killed maybe 1 or two dragons then duplicated the heartstrings. Surely theres a spell for that. And they wouldn't just go around killing dragons or forcing the rarer breeds, like Norweigian Ridgebacks, to extinction. And not every wand is made of dragon heartstring. They have a little more common sense than that.

I just read the Half Blood Prince and Fudge says in the beginning to the muggle Prime Minister that they half to control the dragon population, so it is a necessity to kill dragons so that the muggles don't see them flying all over the place. Also Death Eater makes an invalid point. He said:

This is improbable because if they were able to do it then the value of everything would be 0. Its like duplicating gold, it can't be done unless you have a Sorcerer's Stone.