Thursday 14 April 2016

Malaysia destroys 9.5 tonne hoard of ivory

Authorities hope the country’s first ivory destruction will help deter smugglers who use the country as a key transit point

Agence France-Presse
Thursday 14 April 2016 09.53 BST
Last modified on Thursday 14 April 201611.30 BST

Malaysia has destroyed 9.5 tonnes of elephant ivory that it had seized over the years, in a move authorities hope will help deter smugglers who have long used the country as a trans-shipment point.

The huge pile of African elephant tusks, estimated to be worth $20m (£14m), was first fed into in an industrial crusher to be pulverised, and then incinerated in a giant furnace in Port Dickson in southern Malaysia on Thursday.

Malaysia has previously announced in parliament that 4,624 ivory tusks were confiscated between 2011 and 2014.

“This is our first-ever ivory destruction. We want to send a strong message to the world that Malaysia does not compromise in protecting endangered species,” natural resources and environment minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told AFP.

The international ivory trade, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989 after the population of African elephants declined from millions in the mid-20th century to just 600,000 by the end of the 1980s.


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