Over one ton of ivory crushed in Times Square

U.S. authorities on Friday crushed more than one ton of confiscated ivory items in New York's Times Square, joining the world's efforts in curbing the illegal ivory market and stopping trafficking.


In the renowned Times Square in Manhanttan, hundreds of artistically carved elephant ivory trinkets were loaded onto a conveyor belt before dropping into an industrial rock crusher.

"The United States today was not just crushing ivory from poached elephants -- it was crushing the bloody ivory market," said U.S. Wildlife Conservation Society President and CEO Cristian Samper. "It was declaring that we will join many other nations to do our part in ending this crisis."

The move came after the Chinese government crushed 662 kg of confiscated ivory in May, the second public destruction after 6.1 tonnes of confiscated ivory were destroyed in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan last year.

This year, more countries have publicly destroyed seized ivory to help combat global illegal ivory trade. Kenya, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Congo together have torched more than 36 tonnes of ivory.

The ivory trade is pushing endangered elephants towards extinction, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, one of the largest charities in the world. Every year, 25,000-30, 000 African elephants are poached to supply the ivory trade.

Research shows that for slow-growing, long-living species like the elephant, when mortality rate reaches 6 percent, the population risks crashing. However, in many regions of Africa, elephant populations are declining at a rate of 11 to 12 percent because of ivory trade.

The United States, among the world's largest consumers of wildlife products -- both legal and illegal, has a significant ivory market.

Much of the ivory destroyed in Times Square was confiscated from an art and antiques dealer, who in 2014 was sentenced in a U. S. federal court to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay 157,500 U.S. dollars in fines and forfeitures for smuggling African elephant ivory into the United States, according to the official statement of Friday's event.

The seizure was one of the largest of elephant ivory on record in the United States.

The U.S. federal government is currently evaluating ways to further strengthen its elephant ivory trade control. New York and New Jersey have enacted strong laws to ban the sale of ivory; other states including California are currently considering legislative bans. 

Over one ton of ivory crushed in Times Square - China.org.cn

20/6/15