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3 MARCH 2015 - Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta (R) set fire to 15 tons of elephant tusks during World Wildlife Day to discourage poaching. (Photo: CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images)
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Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has set fire to 15
tonnes of elephant ivory as part of the East African nation's efforts to curb
poaching.
Kenyatta
vowed to destroy the country's entire stockpile of illegal tusks by the year's
end. The 15 tons destroyed was worth some $30 million on the black market and
represented up to 1,500 slaughtered elephants, making it the largest
consignment to be destroyed in Kenya.
Kenyatta said 25 years after the
historic banning of the ivory trade, new demand from emerging markets is
threatening Africa's elephants and rhinos. Kenyatta said African countries are
concerned about the scale and rate of the new threat to endangered wildlife
species.
Higher
demand for ivory is fueling the elephant killings by poachers across Africa.
Save The Elephants said last year that 100,000 elephants were killed in Africa
between 2010 and 2012. On Thursday, China imposed a one-year ban on ivory
imports amid criticism that its citizens' huge appetite for ivory threatens the
existence of Africa's elephants.
While we await the commissioning of Forensic
lab within the next couple of months, we are conducting forensic analysis to
aid in crime scene management. The latest forensic
approach is considered a weapon that may lead to a significant reduction in
elephant poaching, both in Africa and Asia where they are now classified as
endangered species.
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JULY 1989 - President Daniel Arap Moi sets fire to tusks worth 3 million US dollars confiscated from poachers by Kenyan Game Wardens. Photo by Tom Stoddart- Getty Images
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JULY 2011 - President Mwai Kibaki set light to nearly 5 tons of contraband ivory in Tsavo West National Park. Photo by Amboseli Trust for Elephants |
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