To highlight the problem of the illegal ivory trade, New York has publicly destroyed more than a ton and a half of tusks and ornaments.
Conservations and law enforcement officials gathered to place around 650 pieces of ivory onto a conveyor belt and into a crusher in Central Park.
Nick Harper reports from New York.
Conservations and law enforcement officials gathered to place around 650 pieces of ivory onto a conveyor belt and into a crusher in Central Park.
Nick Harper reports from New York.
IN: "Piece by piece..."
OUT: SOC
DUR:
AIR: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-air.mp3
ARN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-arn.mp3
938 LIVE: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-938.mp3
FM4: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-fm4.mp3
ICRT: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-icrt.mp3
NIGERIA: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-von.mp3
RNZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-rnz.mp3
VATICAN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-vat.mp3
ZIZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-ziz.mp3
GENERIC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-gen.mp3
TAKE VO
Piece by piece, New York is moving ivory out of the hands of collectors and dealers.
A conveyor belt - the size of a large lorry - acting as the the final journey for one and half tons of trinkets, ornaments and art work, sending them up and into a giant crusher.
It's the latest effort by the city to crush out the illegal ivory trade.
New York State Environmental Conservation Police Officer, Lieutenant Jesse Paluch, says this public destruction in Central Park was designed with one reason in mind.
Lieutenant Jesse Paluch, New York State Environmental Conservation Police: "We want to send a very strong message to the public that New York, that America, we are united and we stand together, and even though we don't have elephants in the wild we still want to protect them, we want to do our part to curb that demand."
TAKE VO
Conservationists estimate that an elephant is killed every 15 minutes for its ivory, the equivalent of almost a hundred animals a day. Jimmiel Mandima, from the Africa Wildlife Foundation, works with teams throughout the African continent.
SOT - Jimmiel Mandima, Africa Wildlife Foundation: "We are seeing the rate of elephant killing 20-25,000 elephants a year and is higher than the rate of regeneration. So essentially what this means is that we could be seeing elephants getting extinct under our watch."
TAKE VO
Two years ago a similar event was held in Times Square. As with that one, all the ivory was seized here in New York. This crush took well over an hour, during which time $8 million dollars worth of illegal ivory was destroyed. Conservations say that represents the ivory taken from a hundred different elephants.
In 2014 New York became one of the first US states to imposed a ban on ivory products.
And it's been working with the other largest market for ivory, China, to shut down the trade.
Here's John Calvelli from the Wildlife Conservation Society.
SOT - John Calvelli, Wildlife Conservation Society: "China has really stepped up in a very meaningful way to say we are going to be closing our markets. And we worked very closely with our State Department and our governmental officials and they worked very closely with their counterparts in China and what we were able to do is show that we can collaborate, we can work together."
TAKE VO
The organizers say this is a bittersweet event. A sad end for the elephants' ivory, but a happier ending than sitting on a collectors' shelf.
SOC
ENDS
OUT: SOC
DUR:
AIR: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-air.mp3
ARN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-arn.mp3
938 LIVE: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-938.mp3
FM4: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-fm4.mp3
ICRT: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-icrt.mp3
NIGERIA: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-von.mp3
RNZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-rnz.mp3
VATICAN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-vat.mp3
ZIZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-ziz.mp3
GENERIC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0803ivory-nh-gen.mp3
TAKE VO
Piece by piece, New York is moving ivory out of the hands of collectors and dealers.
A conveyor belt - the size of a large lorry - acting as the the final journey for one and half tons of trinkets, ornaments and art work, sending them up and into a giant crusher.
It's the latest effort by the city to crush out the illegal ivory trade.
New York State Environmental Conservation Police Officer, Lieutenant Jesse Paluch, says this public destruction in Central Park was designed with one reason in mind.
Lieutenant Jesse Paluch, New York State Environmental Conservation Police: "We want to send a very strong message to the public that New York, that America, we are united and we stand together, and even though we don't have elephants in the wild we still want to protect them, we want to do our part to curb that demand."
TAKE VO
Conservationists estimate that an elephant is killed every 15 minutes for its ivory, the equivalent of almost a hundred animals a day. Jimmiel Mandima, from the Africa Wildlife Foundation, works with teams throughout the African continent.
SOT - Jimmiel Mandima, Africa Wildlife Foundation: "We are seeing the rate of elephant killing 20-25,000 elephants a year and is higher than the rate of regeneration. So essentially what this means is that we could be seeing elephants getting extinct under our watch."
TAKE VO
Two years ago a similar event was held in Times Square. As with that one, all the ivory was seized here in New York. This crush took well over an hour, during which time $8 million dollars worth of illegal ivory was destroyed. Conservations say that represents the ivory taken from a hundred different elephants.
In 2014 New York became one of the first US states to imposed a ban on ivory products.
And it's been working with the other largest market for ivory, China, to shut down the trade.
Here's John Calvelli from the Wildlife Conservation Society.
SOT - John Calvelli, Wildlife Conservation Society: "China has really stepped up in a very meaningful way to say we are going to be closing our markets. And we worked very closely with our State Department and our governmental officials and they worked very closely with their counterparts in China and what we were able to do is show that we can collaborate, we can work together."
TAKE VO
The organizers say this is a bittersweet event. A sad end for the elephants' ivory, but a happier ending than sitting on a collectors' shelf.
SOC
ENDS