New York crushes two tons of ivory to smash illegal trade

Record ID: 905087

  • Title: New York crushes two tons of ivory to smash illegal trade
  • Date: 3rd August 2017
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 3, 2017) (REUTERS) OFFICIALS STANDING AT FOOT OF MACHINE, HOLDING CONFISCATED IVORY COMMISSIONER OF THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION, BASIL SEGGOS, PLACING IVORY ONTO MACHINE TO BE PULVERIZED CARVED IVORY TUSK GOING INTO MACHINE'S BIN OFFICIALS HOLDING CARVED IVORY ZOOM OUT FROM COBRA 260R HORIZONTAL IMPACT CRUSHER VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PLACING IVORY ONTO MACHINE TO BE PULVERIZED (2 SHOTS) VARIOUS OF FRAGMENTS OF IVORY MOVING ON MACHINE (7 SHOTS) WIDE OF MACHINE PERSON PLACING IVORY ON MACHINE TO BE PULVERIZED TO ILLEGAL IVORY ITEMS ON DISPLAY WIDE OF EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS FOR THE WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY, JOHN CALVELLI, AT PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS FOR THE WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY, JOHN CALVELLI, SAYING: "I want to share with you just one brief story. You see this piece here in front of us. The top, this one piece here. Five juvenile elephants were killed to make that small piece. Today we are going to crush approximately 100 elephants. That is the number of elephants that die approximately every day in Africa." (SOUNDBITE) (English) AFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION PROGRAM DESIGN AND PARTNER RELATIONS DIRECTOR, JIMMIEL MANDIMA, SAYING: "To say to the world, just in case you are contemplating buying ivory, and you're not sure of the legality of it, don't buy it. And in fact, right now, our position is that there is no legal ivory to be sold. Ivory should stay on elephants. So this is a way of saying to the world, let's not keep on seeing the elephants lead to extinction as a result of our consumption habits." (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW YORK, DAN DONOVAN, SAYING: "A two-year period from 2010 to 2012, 100,000 elephants were slaughtered so that someone could have something like this in their living room? It disgusts me. Who said it before? Commissioner, you said it. It's disgusting."
  • Embargoed: 17th August 2017 20:34
  • Keywords: Wildlife Conservation Society Ivory elephants elephants ivory New York City ivory Mick Fleetwood
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Environment,Nature/Wildlife,Human Interest / Brights / Odd News
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016SLT93B
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The Wildlife Conservation Society crushed more than two tons of elephant ivory in Central Park on Thursday (August 3) in a symbolic smashing of the illegal ivory trade that conservationists say kills a hundred elephants a day in Africa and other parts of the world.
    Hundreds of trinkets, ornate carvings and jewelry items were confiscated in New York. The carved ivory, some of it still in the form of an elephant's tusk, was placed on a conveyor belt that fed into an enormous mechanical crusher, where it was pulverized it into dust.
    The event demonstrated the urgency for stopping the criminal trade, which is killing elephants faster than the animals are reproducing, imperiling their populations.
    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.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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