More than a ton of ivory confiscated from New
York and Philadelphia was crushed in Times Square on Friday to show
intolerance for elephant poaching and the illegal ivory
trade.
The event demonstrated the urgency for stopping
the criminal trade, which is killing elephants faster than the
animals are reproducing, imperiling their populations, the US Fish
and Wildlife Service said.
Roughly 907 kilograms of the elaborately carved
ivory, some of it still in the form of an elephant's tusk, was on
display on a table in Manhattan's Times Square.
Officials held it up dozens of statues piece by
piece, then placed them on a conveyor belt that fed into an
enormous mechanical crusher, where they was pulverized into
dust.
'This is an illegal product and we feel that
burning it or destroying it gets it out of commercial use and,
therefore, there's less of a chance for it to find its way into the
marketplace,' said Wildlife Conservation Society spokesman John
Calvelli.
'It makes it really clear that it will never be
used again.'
The ivory was confiscated from dealers and
retailers in New York City and Philadelphia.
About 35,000 elephants are killed in Africa every
year for their ivory, according to the Wildlife Service, which
organized the event in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation
Society.
More than 100,000 were killed between 2011 and
2014, according to the Guardians.
Celebrities such as actresses Edie Falco (left, left)
and Sex and the City actress Kristen Davis (left, right,)
participated in Friday's ivory crush and urged Americans not to buy
ivory
There are only 43,000 elephants left in Tanzania,
the country's government said this week.
New York passed a law in August 2014 hardening
the state's stance on the ivory trade by banning the sale of ivory
and increasing penalties for ivory sales.
New Jersey passed a similar law, which does not
make an exception for antiques, right before its
neighbor.
The United States still allows ivory acquired
before a 1989 ban to be traded.
Legal trade in ivory is thought to often be used
as a cover for illegal sales of the substance.
'Never buy ivory. Even if they say it's antique,
it isn't,' Sex in the City actress Kristen Davis said at the event,
according to USA Today
China, the largest market for ivory, is thought
to be a crossroads for many illegal sales.
The country's government said earlier this month
that it is working to shut down its legal trade, though it has not
proffered any concrete plan.
Rules from the Wildlife Service that went into
effect last year banned the commercial import of ivory with the
exception of hunting trophies, though the agency website
says that it expects more restrictions on those as
well.
Exceptions are also made for ivory that is part
of a musical instrument.
President Obama has called for a national ban
that has yet to materialize, according to National
Geographic.
Opponents include the National Rifle Association,
which says a ban would be a problem for antique gun sales and
hunters who wanted to bring back ivory from expensive but legal
elephant shoots in Africa.
New York City is the largest port of entry for
illegal wildlife goods in the United States, according to the New
York Department of Environmental Conservation.
Organizers said they hoped staging the
ivory-crushing event in busy Times Square would extend the reach of
their message.
'Today's ivory crush will serve as a stark
reminder to the rest of the world that the United States will not
tolerate wildlife crimes, especially against iconic and endangered
animals,' said Sally Jewell, secretary of the US Department of the
Interior.
The government held a similar event in Denver at
the end of 2013 in which six tons of ivory were
crushed.
Residue of the crushed ivory will be used in a
public education campaign by the Wildlife Service.
