Home Tags Posts tagged with "Ivory"

Ivory

0

On the last day of the first Giants Club summit, President Uhuru Kenyatta has set fire to a huge stockpile of ivory in an effort to show Kenya’s commitment to saving Africa’s elephants.

More than 100 tonnes of ivory was stacked up in pyres in Nairobi National Park where it is expected to burn for several days.

The ivory represents nearly the entire stock confiscated by Kenya, amounting to the tusks of about 6,700 elephants.

Some disagree with Kenya’s approach, saying it can encourage poaching.

Photo AP

Photo AP

Before igniting the first pyre, President Uhuru Kenyatta said: “The height of the pile of ivory before us marks the strength of our resolve.

“No-one, and I repeat no-one, has any business in trading in ivory, for this trade means death of our elephants and death of our natural heritage.”

The burning comes after African leaders meeting in Kenya urged an end to illegal trade in ivory.

Experts have warned Africa’s elephants could be extinct within decades.

However, some conservationists have expressed opposition to the ivory burn in Kenya, the biggest in history.

They say destroying so much of a rare commodity could increase its value and encourage more poaching rather than less.

Botswana, which is home to about half of Africa’s elephants, is opposed to the burn and its president did not attend the event in Nairobi.

Demand for ivory comes largely from Asia, with the main trafficking route being through the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

Africa is home to between 450,000 and 500,000 elephants but more than 30,000 are killed every year for their tusks. Tanzania has lost 65% of its elephant population in the past five years.

The Kenyan ivory pyres are seven times the size of any stockpile destruction so far, and represent about 5% of global ivory stores.

Some 1.35 tonnes of rhino horn will also be burned.

The street value of the ivory to be destroyed is estimated at more than $100 million, and the rhino horn at $80 million.

0

Angelina Jolie will direct Africa, a film about celebrated conservationist Richard Leakey’s battles with ivory poachers.

The screenplay has been written by Eric Roth – who won an Oscar for Forrest Gump.

Richard Leakey is former head of the Kenya Wildlife Service and was key to stemming the trade in illegal ivory.

Angelina Jolie said: “I’ve felt a deep connection to Africa and its culture for much of my life.”

Angelina Jolie will direct Africa, a film about celebrated conservationist Richard Leakey's battles with ivory poachers

Angelina Jolie will direct Africa, a film about celebrated conservationist Richard Leakey’s battles with ivory poachers (photo Reuters)

Richard Leakey’s extreme measures to tackle poachers, including sending helicopter gunships into the national park, have helped Kenya’s elephant and rhino populations recover from the brink of disaster.

He made international headlines in 1989, when a stockpile of 12 tonnes of ivory was burned in Nairobi National Park.

Angelina Jolie said Africa is about “a man drawn into the violent conflict with elephant poachers, who emerged with a deeper understanding of man’s footprint and a profound sense of responsibility for the world around him”.

Producer David Ellison – whose company Skydance co-produced films including True Grit and Jack Reacher – called Richard Leakey “inspirational,” adding: “Africa is a story that deserves to be told.”

Angelina Jolie’s next movie, Unbroken, is due in cinemas later this year.

Angelina Jolie is currently directing and starring opposite her husband Brad Pitt in the film By The Sea, based on her own screenplay.

0

More than 6 tons of seized ivory including tusks, carvings and jewellery have been crushed in Colorado.

Thousands of items accumulated over the past 25 years were dumped into a steel crusher at the National Wildlife Property Repository north of Denver.

The items were seized from smugglers, traders and tourists at US ports of entry since the 1989 international embargo on the ivory trade took effect.

Elephants continue to be shot for their prized tusks despite the global ban.

“These stockpiles of ivory fuel the demand,” said Dan Ashe, director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

More than 6 tons of seized ivory including tusks, carvings and jewellery have been crushed in Colorado

More than 6 tons of seized ivory including tusks, carvings and jewellery have been crushed in Colorado

“We need to crush the stores of ivory worldwide.”

Dan Ashe said keeping the stockpile could feed consumer demand for illegal souvenirs and trinkets.

Officials said the collection represented the killing of more than 2,000 adult elephants.

The illegal trade in ivory threatens the very existence of the African elephant, the largest land animal on Earth, experts have warned.

Last year saw the highest number of large seizures of illegal ivory for more than two decades.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry announced a $1 million reward to help smash a Laos-based poaching syndicate that slaughters endangered elephants and rhinos for their tusks and horns.

John Kerry said profits from wildlife trafficking were being pumped into other illicit activities such as narcotics, arms, and human trafficking.

[youtube bGtnt5B0ZLM 650]

© © 2011 - 2023 BelleNews.com