United States officials on Thursday demolished at least six tons of seized ivory tusks, jewelry and sculptures to send a message to poachers who participate in the global "blood ivory" trade that kills tens of thousands of elephants annually.
Authorities at the National Wildlife Property Repository in Colorado used rocks to crush the United States' storehouse of confiscated ivory ceremonial bowls, masks and ornaments accumulated over the past 25 years, the Associated Press reported. Parts of the pulverized ivory pieces will be donated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to a museum for display.
Officials from the Repository located just north of Denver told the press that the collection of ivory tusks and various adornments were comprised of body parts from more than 20,000 adult elephants. Since a global ban on the illegal ivory industry was put in place in 1989, authorities at various ports of entry in the United States have confiscated the goods from smugglers and traders.
"What is striking to me is the lengths that some commercial importers and smugglers will go to conceal their ivory - everything from staining it with colors to covering it with leather," Special Agent from the Fish and Wildlife Service Steve Oberholtzer told the Associated Press. "The stakes are high in the ivory trade."
Thursday's mass demolition meant to send a message to poachers responsible for killing more than 32,000 elephants in 2012.
"We [USFWS] want to send a clear message that the United States will not tolerate ivory trafficking and the toll it is taking on elephant populations," the organization wrote in a statement, according to the Guardian.
But the crushing was met with some opposition - co-founder of Florida-based International Ivory Society Bob Weisblut told the Associated Press that he felt the tusks, which held both aesthetic and historical qualities, should have been preserved and sold to raise money against poaching.
"A lot of this is beautiful art," Weisblut said. "And it's a shame to destroy it."
