6 Tons of Seized Ivory Crushed in Denver - Camille Vigil

     This week in Denver, Colorado, thousands of items made from ivory were collected into a large pyramid-shaped pile and were crushed into dust and small pieces. These were items confiscated over the past 25 years from smugglers, poachers, and tourists returning to America with illegal goods made from ivory. The Born Free Foundation of Britain, an animal rights group that supports the protection of elephants from poaching, approximates that about 32,000 elephants were killed in Africa in 2012 for the use of their ivory tusks. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency director, Dan Ashe, says that "these stockpiles of ivory fuel the demand. We need to crush the stores of ivory worldwide." By doing this, there would be either much less or no ivory left in circulation for sale on the black market, and thereby eliminating interest in the trade. Ivory is used in making small trinkets such as statues, masks, and ornaments, all of which are illegal, unless imported before the 1989 global ban on the ivory trade. Due to an apparent U.S. demand and expanding market for ivory in Asia, elephant poaching is currently at "an all-time high."
     I was very very surprised, and quite disappointed to hear that the United States is a contributing cause for the poaching trade's flourishing market currently. I don't see how anyone could want ivory-made goods, seeing that they result from the cruelty and killing of helpless elephants, in addition to being highly illegal. I was also surprised because people in the United States appear to be more educated about these sort of issues, and I would expect America to be the least likely place to harbor a demand for ivory goods.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tons-seized-ivory-crushed-denver-20895010