Crush ivory, not elephants
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New Yorkers come out in symbolic show of support
Although World Elephant Day isn’t until August 12th, New Yorkers celebrated a little early this year with an event in Central Park that ultimately drew mixed feelings from the gathered crowd.
Last Thursday, Ivory Crush saw to the destruction of two tons of elephant ivory, only a fraction of what an adult elephant weighs but estimated to be worth around $8 million. The ivory, which included carvings, statues and other trinkets, comprised what had been confiscated within the state since New York first banned the sale of ivory three years ago.
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Many cheered as individual items were dropped into the enormous pulverizer set up in the park. Their aim was to send a message to poachers that there is no market for their goods in New York. If the abhorrent nature of their crime is not enough to deter those enacting and supporting the slaughter of elephants, perhaps its lack of a profit margin will.
Others, however, disagreed, finding the destruction of the contraband a further insult to all the elephants who died so these objects could be made. A few present even protested that any number of the items could be of historic value and should therefore be preserved, an opinion all but drowned out by those invested in the symbolism of rendering the ivory worthless.
Despite the diverging reactions from the crowd, all those gathered recognized the same problem. The ivory trade is decimating the population of a species that has been endangered since the late 70s. Each day, nearly 100 elephants are killed for their ivory, or about one every fifteen minutes. At the turn of the twentieth century, there were several million elephants in the world. Now there’s only half a million. The population of Asian elephants is less than half of what it was a hundred years ago.
And if our affinity for ivory must continue, there are far more responsible ways of obtaining it. Waiting until an elephant dies of natural causes allows its tusks to grow out fully, as well as ensuring the elephant every chance to reproduce.
The event on Thursday was not the first of its kind. Another Ivory Crush was held in Times Square back in 2015. It is unclear whether more will take place.
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