Highlighting a pledge to crack down on the multibillion-dollar illicit global trade in wildlife, US authorities on Thursday pulverized 6 tons of seized ivory from thousands of elephants slaughtered by poachers for their prized tusks. A US official presiding over the event said the crushing of ivory to make it commercially worthless would send a message to poachers worldwide that the United States is serious about taking actions to curtail the illegal trade. “We need to end the demand for ivory,” Ashe said, adding that a growing affluent class in Asia, primarily in China, was behind a spike in demand for ivory and its products in recent years. —Reuters
Your Thoughts …
