Saturday, July 23, 2011

CNN: Kenyan president sets 5 tons of ivory ablaze to push conservation

(CNN) -- Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki set five tons of elephant tusks and ivory carvings ablaze Wednesday in the first national celebration of African Elephant Law Enforcement Day.

The president burned 335 elephant tusks and more than 40,000 ivory carvings, which were seized from smugglers in Singapore, according to a news statement by the Kenya Wildlife Service.
The president burned 335 elephant tusks and more than 40,000 ivory carvings from smugglers in Singapore.


According to the agency, 187 Kenyan elephants were illegally killed in 2010. Kibaki said he wants his country to be at the forefront of wildlife conservation.

"Through the disposal of contraband ivory, we seek to formally demonstrate to the world our determination to eliminate all forms of illegal trade in ivory," Kibaki said.

Hundreds of conservationists traveled to the country to highlight the ongoing fight against wildlife crimes, the statement said. The event marked the culmination of a week of conservation-themed celebrations that included the launch of a new African wildlife monitoring system.

Noah Wekesa, Kenya's minister for forestry and wildlife, said the country is also finalizing a bill that will severely penalize poachers to ensure illegal wildlife trade has no "haven within our region."

In May, Kenyan officials seized 115 pieces of ivory disguised as diplomatic baggage at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Kibaki said countries need to understand the effects illegal trade has on national economies.

"We cannot afford to sit back and allow criminal networks to destroy our common future,'' he said.

17 comments:

  1. Oh wow, thats surprising. Never would've thought that could happen but it actually sends a message very clearly.

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  2. Wow its good to know that people really do care about animals. Hopefully this new anti act works out.

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  3. Instead of burning the tusks they should have started to build piano keys out of them. Burning them was not necessary. Only a waste!

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  4. President Mwai Kibaki seems like a very straight forward guy. I like the idea that in a country in which a substance is illegal that the politicians aren't keeping them as ancient artifacts or some other hypocritical bullocks. Maybe we'll see Kenya rising up above all of this corruption in governmental power use.

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  5. Hopefully this will help to save the elephants, I hope that in future elephant populations will be at a healthy level again

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  6. The problem here is archaic asian witchcraft that places extremely high monetary value on items like rhino horns and stuff. It's a farce...

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  7. Finnaly something interesting to see in the internet! congrats for the post!

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  8. Poor Elephants. I hear they are very intelligent and have a very good memory.

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  9. I fell sorry for the elephants hopefully Kenya really does help them out.

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  10. I am glad to see that the govt is taking a big step towards cracking down on the illegal hunt and trade! It's so sad that it has gone on this long!

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  11. endangered species hunting should be punished with life sentence

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  12. Those poor big fellas. Good thing the government is doing what they can to set and example.

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  13. tic toc, I want to rock you like the eighties.

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