ivory

Kenya is set to burn 105 tons of elephant ivory and more than 1 ton of rhino horn, believed to be the largest stockpile ever destroyed, in a dramatic statement against the trade in ivory and products from endangered species.

Bob Weisblut owned a company specializing in burglar alarms and closed-circuit surveillance. Serendipity stirred his interest in ivory.

A world without elephants, even a world with severely reduced populations only incites more violence and convulsions across the entire body of the African and Asian continent.

It is often said that if something is repeated often enough, it becomes accepted as true. This has certainly been the case for the link between terrorism and the poaching of elephants for the ivory trade.

Ever since the World Trade ban on illegal ivory trade in 1989, there has only been an increased demand in the markets for ivory goods. Ivory is made from the teeth of elephants and other animals, and for these already endangered species, increased pressure is pushing them to the brink of extinction.

Sharks fins are said to be the third most valuable illicit product in the world behind drugs and guns while ivory is fourth.

Robert K. Sweeney, an Assemblyman from Lindenhurst, N.Y., wants to ban the sale of all ivory in New York State. This applies to both new and old ivory. The repercussions of such an action are enormous and I would like to point out just a few of them.

As Africa struggles to to prevent its elephant population from being pushed to the brink of extinction, some 7,000 miles away, Philippine authorities destroyed five tons of smuggled ivory worth $10 million—the largest amount of ivory destroyed outside of Africa so far.