35,000 elephants were killed last year
the question is how impactful will an
event like this be and it’s symbolically
is very significant and people ought to
take heart that this is happening and
it’s the u.s. taking a leadership
position and what they’re calling a
first step regulating or eliminating the
US trade in ivory the main point of this
crush is to send a signal to the world
to raise awareness about a crisis an
international crisis in illegal wildlife
trafficking we have to reduce the demand
we have to reverse that trend we have to
send the signal that ivory belongs to
elephants and belongs to elephants in
the wild this is a criminal problem I
mean everybody talks about wildlife
crime they’re not talking about elephant
conservation here so much as crime we
need to identify not just poachers on
the ground but the organizer of those
poachers who are the aggregators Ivory’s
very difficult to move across borders it
weighs tons to be able to move that you
have to be a powerful player and you
have to have government connections all
the money it’s basic basic law
enforcement and in very rare cases is
anybody doing and it’s easy to feel
really despondent we are witnessing a
massacre of elephants of unprecedented
proportions and many people think is
just too late the problem is too big the
demand is too enormous coming here to
Colorado to see the crush is incredibly
moving and inspiring for me what I see
is people on the other side of the
planet
joining Africa in a course to save a
species that only exists in the wild in
Africa Philippines earlier this year
crushed five tons of ivory it’s a very
brave thing for them to do we saw Gabon
in West Africa destroy its RV last year
here and people in the US government are
hoping that first European countries may
follow suit that other countries will
say will destroy our r.v stocks but more
it’s the first step to maybe more
strongly regulating and banning the
trade of ivory within the US borders and
that sort of principle laying that sort
of groundwork everyone hopes will
eventually be heard by China
you
the question is how impactful will an
event like this be and it’s symbolically
is very significant and people ought to
take heart that this is happening and
it’s the u.s. taking a leadership
position and what they’re calling a
first step regulating or eliminating the
US trade in ivory the main point of this
crush is to send a signal to the world
to raise awareness about a crisis an
international crisis in illegal wildlife
trafficking we have to reduce the demand
we have to reverse that trend we have to
send the signal that ivory belongs to
elephants and belongs to elephants in
the wild this is a criminal problem I
mean everybody talks about wildlife
crime they’re not talking about elephant
conservation here so much as crime we
need to identify not just poachers on
the ground but the organizer of those
poachers who are the aggregators Ivory’s
very difficult to move across borders it
weighs tons to be able to move that you
have to be a powerful player and you
have to have government connections all
the money it’s basic basic law
enforcement and in very rare cases is
anybody doing and it’s easy to feel
really despondent we are witnessing a
massacre of elephants of unprecedented
proportions and many people think is
just too late the problem is too big the
demand is too enormous coming here to
Colorado to see the crush is incredibly
moving and inspiring for me what I see
is people on the other side of the
planet
joining Africa in a course to save a
species that only exists in the wild in
Africa Philippines earlier this year
crushed five tons of ivory it’s a very
brave thing for them to do we saw Gabon
in West Africa destroy its RV last year
here and people in the US government are
hoping that first European countries may
follow suit that other countries will
say will destroy our r.v stocks but more
it’s the first step to maybe more
strongly regulating and banning the
trade of ivory within the US borders and
that sort of principle laying that sort
of groundwork everyone hopes will
eventually be heard by China
you
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