Kenya burns ivory to protest poaching

Associated Press

NAIROBI, KENYA

Kenya’s president set fire Saturday to 105 tons of elephant ivory and more than 1 ton of rhino horn, believed to be the largest stockpile ever destroyed, in a dramatic statement by this East African country against the trade in ivory and products from endangered species.

Uhuru Kenyatta put a flame to the biggest of 11 pyres of ivory tusks and one of rhino horn in a chilly afternoon. Overnight torrential rains had threatened to ruin the event but stopped midday leaving a mud field around the piles inside Nairobi National Park.

“A time has come when we must take a stand, and the stand is clear ... Kenya is making a statement that for us, ivory is worthless unless it is on our elephants,” Kenyatta said.

The stacks of tusks represent more than 8,000 elephants and some 343 rhinos slaughtered for their ivory and horns, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Kenya will push for the total ban on trade in ivory at the 17th meeting of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species to take place in South Africa later this year, said Kenyatta.