Kenya torches 8000 animal tusks in world's largest ivory bonfire in a bid to stop ivory trade
The tusks of about 8000 elephants and rhinoceros have gone up in smoke as a demonstration of Kenya's commitment to stamp out all ivory trade, the country said.
Conservationists are applauding Kenya's decision to burn the stockpile that would have been worth a fortune to smugglers, sending a message that trade in the animal parts must be stopped.
Officials at the Kenya Wildlife Service can be seen setting fire to 105 tons of elephant tusk ivory, mainly confiscated from poachers, at Nairobi National Park. Photo: AAP
Plumes of smoke rose on Saturday as the flames took hold of tusks piled up in a game reserve on the edge of the capital Nairobi, destroying the 105 tonnes of ivory.
President Uhuru Kenyatta dismissed those who argued Kenya, which staged its first such burning in 1989, should instead have sold the ivory and the tonne of rhino horn.
Some estimate the pile have an illegal market value of $197 million.
"Kenya is making a statement that for us ivory is worthless unless it is on our elephants," he told dignitaries before setting light to the first of almost a dozen pyres.
A section of an estimated 105 tonnes of elephant tusks confiscated ivory from smugglers and poachers burns in flames. Photo: AP
The Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta personally setting alight some of the tusks, as the government made a strong statement against the illegal ivory trade .Photo: AAP
Kenya is seeking a total world ban on ivory sales when the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meets in South Africa later this year as poaching poses an increasing risk to the species.
CITES banned commercial trade in African elephant ivory in 1989, but since then has permitted one-off sales.
Kenyatta's call for an ivory trade ban was backed by Ali Bongo, president of Gabon, home to the forest elephant.
"To all the poachers, to all the buyers, to all the traders, your days are numbered," Bongo said at the ceremony.
People cheer as plumes of smoke rose as the flames took hold of tusks piled up in a game reserve on the edge of the capital Nairobi. Photo: AAP
Conservationists are applauding Kenya's decision to burn the stockpile that would have been worth a fortune to smugglers. Photo: AP
French Environment Minister Segolene Royal announced in Nairobi she was would introduce "a ban on any kind of ivory trade in France" after banning export certificates for ivory last year.
She said she would encourage other European states to follow.
"We need to kill the trade," she said.
