IFAW: Largest ivory crush ever in Kenya sends message to poachers

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IFAW: Lar­ge­st ivo­ry crush ever in Kenya sends mes­sa­ge to poa­chers (PRNewsFoto/International Fund for Ani­mal W)

NAIROBI, Kenya, April 30, 2016 /PR­New­swi­re-USNew­swi­re/ — Plu­mes of smo­ke drif­ted over Nai­ro­bi Natio­nal Park today as Kenyan autho­ri­ties tor­ched 105 ton­nes of ivo­ry and 1.35 ton­nes of rhi­no horn – the lar­ge­st sin­gle quan­ti­ty of ivo­ry to be destroyed any­whe­re in the world.

“It is a mas­si­ve quan­ti­ty of ivo­ry, repre­sen­ting all of Kenya’s ivo­ry stoc­k­pi­les, apart from tho­se retai­ned as cri­mi­nal exhi­bi­ts, for poste­ri­ty, edu­ca­tion and scien­ti­fic research,” said James Isi­che, Regio­nal Direc­tor Inter­na­tio­nal Fund for Ani­mal Wel­fa­re (IFAW) East Afri­ca.

“By bur­ning this ivo­ry and rhi­no horn and put­ting it beyond use Kenya has sent a very power­ful mes­sa­ge to cri­mi­nals that they are abso­lu­te­ly serious about crac­king down on tra­de in ille­gal ivo­ry and rhi­no horn tra­de which, in turn, fuels the poa­ching that is deci­ma­ting ele­phan­ts and rhi­no popu­la­tions.”

Sin­ce 1989, Kenya has destroyed over 30 ton­nes of ivo­ry. In March 2015, His Excel­len­cy Pre­si­dent Uhu­ru Kenyat­ta set abla­ze 15 ton­nes. His two pre­de­ces­sors, Pre­si­den­ts Mwai Kiba­ki and Daniel Moi destroyed five ton­nes in 2011 and 12 ton­nes in 1989 respec­ti­ve­ly. The bur­ning of the 12 ton­nes in 1989 cap­tu­red media atten­tion and hel­ped lead to the inter­na­tio­nal ivo­ry tra­de ban in 1990.

Today’s histo­ric occa­sion was wit­nes­sed by three sit­ting Pre­si­den­ts, their Excel­len­cies Ian Kha­ma of Botswa­na, Ali Bon­go Ondim­ba of Gabon and Yowe­ri Muse­ve­ni of Ugan­da who toge­ther with their host His Excel­len­cy Pre­si­dent Uhu­ru Kenyat­ta of Kenya set alight four of the 10 ivo­ry pyres.

The pre­si­den­ts had ear­lier in the day con­clu­ded a two-day inau­gu­ral sum­mit as mem­bers of the Gian­ts Club. The Gian­ts Club is an exclu­si­ve forum that brings toge­ther Afri­can Heads of Sta­te, glo­bal busi­ness lea­ders and ele­phant pro­tec­tion experts to secu­re Africa’s remai­ning ele­phant popu­la­tions and the land­sca­pes they depend on.

Azze­di­ne Dow­nes Pre­si­dent and CEO IFAW who atten­ded the Gian­ts Club Sum­mit as a lea­der in ele­phant con­ser­va­tion, also wit­nes­sed the histo­ric ivo­ry dispo­sal.

“The ivo­ry and rhi­no horn dispo­sal we have wit­nes­sed today is tru­ly a remar­ka­ble event in the con­ti­nued fight again­st ivo­ry and rhi­no horn traf­fic­king. By destroy­ing the lar­ge­st ivo­ry stoc­k­pi­le, Kenya has again demon­stra­ted that the only valua­ble ivo­ry and rhi­no horn is on a live ani­mal,” he sta­ted.

Sin­ce 2011 more than 100 ton­nes of ivo­ry have been destroyed by 18 coun­tries: Bel­gium, Came­roon, Chad, Chi­na (inclu­ding Hong Kong), The Repu­blic of Con­go, Ethio­pia, Fran­ce, Gabon, Ita­ly, Kenya, Mala­wi, Malay­sia, Mozam­bi­que, Phi­lip­pi­nes, Sri Lan­ka, Thai­land, UAE and the U.S.A.

Despi­te the­se vic­to­ries, ivo­ry tra­de is pushing endan­ge­red ele­phan­ts towards extinc­tion. Eve­ry year, 25,000–30,000 Afri­can Ele­phan­ts are poa­ched to sup­ply the ivo­ry tra­de. Ivo­ry sei­zu­res con­ti­nue to increa­se with 24.3 ton­nes in 2011, 30 ton­nes in 2012, 41.5 ton­nes in 2013, 17. 8 ton­nes sei­zed bet­ween Janua­ry and Augu­st 2014 and 32 ton­nes in 2015.

Most ille­gal ivo­ry is desti­ned for Asia, in par­ti­cu­lar Chi­na, whe­re it has soa­red in value as an invest­ment vehi­cle and is cove­ted as “whi­te gold.”

The 2013 IFAW report, Cri­mi­nal Natu­re: The Glo­bal Secu­ri­ty Impli­ca­tions of the Ille­gal Wild­li­fe Tra­de,docu­men­ts the threat the ille­gal wild­li­fe tra­de poses to ele­phan­ts, rhi­nos and peo­ple.

About IFAW (The Inter­na­tio­nal Fund for Ani­mal Wel­fa­re)
Foun­ded in 1969, IFAW rescues and pro­tec­ts ani­mals around the world. With pro­jec­ts in more than 40 coun­tries, IFAW rescues indi­vi­dual ani­mals, works to pre­vent cruel­ty to ani­mals, and advo­ca­tes for the pro­tec­tion of wild­li­fe and habi­ta­ts. For more infor­ma­tion, visit www.ifaw.org. Fol­low us on Facebook/IFAW and Twit­ter @action4ifaw

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