US to destroy 6 tons of illegal ivory

[Luddly Neddite]

US to destroy 6-ton stockpile of illegal ivory this week - NBC News.com

"Destroying this ivory tells criminals who engage in poaching and trafficking that the United States will take all available measures to disrupt and prosecute those who prey on and profit from the deaths of these magnificent animals," FWS officials said in a fact sheet.

Barack Obama Destroys US Ivory - Business Insider

On 14 November, at Barack Obama's instruction, and in front of visiting dignitaries and television cameras, every last intricately carved and high-dollar item will be fed into the jaws of an industrial strength rock-crushing machine and smashed to splinters....

But it may be too late. Two decades after an international ban on ivory sales, an explosion in wildlife trafficking has once again brought African elephants to the brink of extinction. Nearly 100 African elephants are killed every day for their tusks to feed a huge demand for ivory trinkets from newly wealthy buyers in Asia who see ivory as a status symbol.

Philippines Ivory Burn: 5 Tons Of Elephant Tusks Destroyed By Government (PHOTOS)

More photos at HuffPo link.

Ivory stockpile to be publicly destroyed as Obama seeks to end illegal trade | Environment | The Guardian

Ivory stockpile to be publicly destroyed as Obama seeks to end illegal trade
TV cameras to record smashing of tusks and intricately carved items – but African elephants are already on brink of extinction ...

US security officials say the global trade in illegal ivory has grown to $10bn (about £6.2bn) a year – just behind drugs and human trafficking. The huge profit potential has also turned ivory into an important line of financing for terrorist networks such as al-Shabaab, the al-Qaida affiliate that carried out September's attack on the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi.

"This is not the kind of poaching that we have dealt with in the past," said Dan Ashe, the director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency leading the US fight against wildlife trafficking. "It's syndicated and sophisticated criminal organisations that are driving the trade."

Surely this is an issue that both sides can and do agree on.

Thank you, Mr. President.

 

[Moonglow]

Too bad they have to burn it. I need new keys on my piano.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5-9PkwzbUc]Mexican Zoo Rescues Orphaned Elephants - YouTube[/ame]

Short but sweet video of baby elephants orphaned by ivory poachers and rescued by Mexico.

 

[Defiant1]

I thought you liberals were big supporters of Art.

 

[Pennywise]

Why destroy it? The damage is already done. This is typical window dressing, cutting the baby in half. Fucking stupid.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Philippines Ivory Burn: 5 Tons Of Elephant Tusks Destroyed By Government (PHOTOS)

"This not only sends a message to wildlife traffickers that the Philippine government is taking firm action against the illegal ivory trade, but also takes a stand against corruption by burning their ivory stockpile so it cannot be stolen then sold into the black market," said Steven Galster, director of Bangkok-based Freeland Foundation.

 

[Moonglow]

I thought you liberals were big supporters of Art.

I would like an ivory bong.

 

[novasteve]

Why not kill the poachers and smugglers? That would be a bigger deterrent

 

[Godboy]

I was excited when I saw this article yesterday. I have several pieces of LEGAL ivory that were purchased by my grand parents in the 70s and they are going up in value every day. I don't condone killing elephants for ANY reason though. Leave those poor things alone, and for fuck sake, take them out of the zoo/circus industry too.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Why not kill the poachers and smugglers? That would be a bigger deterrent

This makes as much sense as the brown haters who say, "just deport all the illegals".

If you know where the poachers, smugglers and illegals are, for Pete's sake, you owe it to the authorities to tell them because its not as though they're out in the streets carrying signs.

 

[waltky]

Ex U.S. professor gets half million dollar fine for smuggling ivory...

Ex-professor fined US$500,000 in US for smuggling ivory
Wed, May 11, 2016 - A former philosophy professor in Minnesota on Monday was fined US$500,000 for smuggling elephant ivory and illegally exporting rhinoceros horns from the US to China, prosecutors said.

Zheng Yiwei, 43, a former St Cloud State University professor, was also sentenced to three years’ probation and 150 hours of community service by US District Judge John Tunheim in Minneapolis, prosecutors said. The fine is to be paid to the Lacey Act Reward Fund, which is used by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to reward those who provide information about wildlife crimes and to care for animals held as evidence in ongoing probes. Zheng’s attorney, Timothy Webb, said the sentence, under which his client will also spend six weekends in jail, was fair. His employment with St Cloud State University ended in March, said Adam Hammer, a spokesman for the school.

Zheng, a Chinese American also known as Steve Zheng, pleaded guilty in January to smuggling ivory from the US to China in April 2011 and exporting rhino horns in July 2010, in violation of the endangered species act. “This defendant helped to sustain this illegal market for years, engaging in more than 300 sales and earning more than US$1 million,” Assistant US Attorney Laura Provinzino said in a statement. “His profit was earned at the expense of these threatened and endangered species.” Zheng operated an online business called Crouching Dragon Antiques in which some of the objects sold were made with ivory and rhino horn, prosecutors said. The illegal items Zheng smuggled into and out of the US were worth as much as US$1.5 million, prosecutors said.

Rhino horn sells at prices higher than gold in places such as Vietnam, where a belief with no basis in science has recently emerged that it can be used to cure cancer. South Africa, which has more rhinos than any other country in Africa, saw nearly 1,200 of the animals killed by poachers last yaer, its Environment Ministry said. There is an arc of illegal animal slaughter on the continent from South Sudan, where conservationists say elephants are being slain by both government forces and rebels, to South Africa. Trade in rhino horn is banned globally under the terms of the CITES convention.

Ex-professor fined US$500,000 in US for smuggling ivory - Taipei Times

 

[waltky]

Tanzania seized US$2 million worth of elephant ivory in June...

Tanzania seized US$2 million worth of elephant ivory in June - police
Wednesday 13th July, 2016: Tanzanian police said on Tuesday it had seized elephant ivory worth more than US$2 million (1.5 million pounds) and arrested nine suspected smugglers in June in an operation supported by Interpol and police forces in the region.

Poaching has risen in recent years across sub-Saharan Africa. Gangs kill elephants and rhinos, both endangered animals, and ship their tusks and horns to Asia for use in ornaments and medicines. "We were able to seize 666 pieces of elephant ivory, weighing 1,279 kilogrammes valued at 4.6 billion shillings (US$2.11 million)," Diwani Athuman, director of criminal investigation, said in a statement.

Among the suspects arrested were two citizens of Guinea and one Ugandan. Interpol and police forces in eastern and southern Africa took part in the operation, he said. The elephant population in Tanzania shrank to around 43,000 in 2014 from 110,000 in 2009, according to a census released last year, with conservationists blaming "industrial-scale" poaching. The rhino population is much smaller.

The East African country relies heavily on revenues from safari tourism and new President John Magufuli has pledged to root out poaching as part of a wider war on corruption. A prominent Chinese businesswoman Yang Feng Glan, 66, dubbed the "Ivory Queen", is facing trial in Tanzania on charges of running a elephant ivory smuggling network.

Tanzania seized US$2 million worth of elephant ivory in June - police

 

[Snouter]

What an insane approach to dealing with the issue. Can't the liberal qu33rs invest in a tranquilizer so the ivory can be harvested harmlessly? All those amazing folks who did those sculptures are being put out of work by the liberal qu33rs. I actually have a buddha with a staff almost exactly like the one in the box in the pic. It was carved before WWII in Indonesia.

 

[Rustic]

Why not kill the poachers and smugglers? That would be a bigger deterrent

This makes as much sense as the brown haters who say, "just deport all the illegals".

If you know where the poachers, smugglers and illegals are, for Pete's sake, you owe it to the authorities to tell them because its not as though they're out in the streets carrying signs.

You like being pussy whipped...

 

[MikeK]

Too bad they have to burn it. I need new keys on my piano.

Are there no other materials suitable for that purpose? Or do ivory piano keys have some inimitable quality? If so, what is it?

 

[MikeK]

If penalties are associated with possession of ivory the poaching of elephants will stop. So I approve of such penalties -- which should be severe. I also believe poachers should be hanged where they are caught and left to rot.