US destroying six tonnes of illegal ivory

The United States is destroying more than six tonness of confiscated ivory tusks, carvings and jewelry – the bulk of the
country’s “blood ivory” stockpile – to support the fight against a $10 billion global trade that slaughters tens of thousands of elephants each year.

Officials on Thursday will use rock crushers to pulverize the stockpile, accumulated over the past 25 years, at the National Wildlife Property Repository just north of Denver. The US Fish and Wildlife Service will donate the crushed ivory particles to a museum to be determined for future display.

Thousands of ivory tusks, statues, ceremonial bowls, masks and ornaments were displayed ahead of their destruction. The collection represented the killing of more than 2,000 adult elephants, the officials said.

The items were seized from smugglers, traders and tourists at US ports of entry after a global ban on the ivory trade went into effect in 1989. 

“What is striking to me is the lengths that some commercial importers and smugglers will go to conceal their ivory _ everything from staining it with colors to covering it with leather,” said Steve Oberholtzer, an agent for the Fish and Wildlife department. “The stakes are high in the ivory trade.” 

Elephant poaching is at an all-time high, thanks in large part to US demand and growing demand in Asia.

The British-based Born Free Foundation estimates that poachers killed 32,000 elephants last year. It says that black-market ivory sells for around $1,300 per pound.

Most elephants are killed in Africa, where there are about 300,000 African elephants left. There are an estimated 50,000 Asian elephants found from India to Vietnam.

The ivory being destroyed does not include items legally imported or acquired before the 1989 global ban.

“This is a way to say to people we are not putting a value on ivory. We’re putting a value on the lives of the elephants,” said Azzedine Downes, president of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which works with US agents to enforce animal protection laws.