Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


              Confiscated Ivory Crushed in New York's Time Square

   by VOA News

   The U.S. government has crushed more than 907 kilograms of confiscated
   illegal ivory in New York's Times Square to raise awareness of the
   elephant poaching and wildlife trafficking crisis.

   Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Friday's event in New York City
   would also crush "the bloody ivory market."  Animal advocates say the
   trade in ivory threatens to wipe out African elephants.
   "We're trying to send a message that the value of ivory should not be
   in carvings and trinkets," said Edward Grace, deputy assistant director
   for law enforcement for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
   Hundreds of ivory trinkets were loaded onto a conveyor belt and into a
   rock crusher.  The ivory dust was then trucked away.
   According to Michelle Gadd, an African Program Officer at the U.S. Fish
   & Wildlife Service, "Elephants are being poached at a rate that is
   unprecedented."
   She said, "We thought we had an ivory crisis in the 1980s," but that
   the situation now is as serious or even worse.
   To put it in perspective, Gadd said, "We only have about a half million
   elephants left and that's down from what was once 10 million elephants
   in 1900.  So with only half a million left, the loss of 100,000 over
   three years is alarming."
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/confiscated-ivory-crushed-in-new-york
   -times-square/2829779.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/confiscated-ivory-crushed-in-new-york-times-square/2829779.html