2023-11-29 05:10:34
The operation aims to alert “on trafficking responsible for the deaths of thousands of elephants each year”. 1.8 tonnes of ivory, two thirds of which were objects handed over by individuals, was destroyed on Tuesday in Reims (Marne) at the initiative of an NGO to help stem the ivory trade, which is fatal to elephants.
From the raw or worked tusk to the mahjong game, from the phallic sculpture to the bracelet, from the knife to the glasses, these 1,800 kg of objects, equivalent to the tusks of around 180 elephants, were crushed then incinerated under the supervision of a bailiff.
“Ivory is only valuable to elephants”
Co-organized by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), an NGO whose French headquarters is in Reims, and by the French Biodiversity Office (OFB), this large-scale destruction aims to stem the trade in ivory and to alert “on trafficking responsible for the deaths of thousands of elephants each year”, according to a joint press release from the two organizations. It “symbolically shows that ivory only has value for elephants”, underlined the director of IFAW France, David Germain-Robin.
There are only 400,000 elephants left in Africa today, a decline of 70% compared to the 1970s, mainly due to poaching, while in a century elephant populations have fallen by more than 90%. points out the press release.
In 2015, IFAW launched the “I donate my ivory” campaign to encourage individuals to hand over their objects for destruction. A successful initiative, with many individuals seeking to get rid of their ivory “by ethical conviction or lack of being able to sell them legally”, according to Mia Crnojevic-Cherrier, campaigns manager within the NGO.
The quantity of objects collected by the IFAW shows the importance of “sustaining a secure system of collection and destruction of ivory, supported by the State”, insist the OFB and the IFAW.
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