Kenya burns five tons of poached ivory

Jul 21, 2011, 9:13 GMT

Nairobi - Kenya burned five tons of illegal ivory on Wednesday, as part of an effort to combat the organized poaching of elephants.

Hundreds of elephant tusks were piled up in Tsavo-West national park and set on fire, in a sign that the East African country and regional wildlife protection coordinator the Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF) hope will show they are serious about the fight.

The burning will also make sure the tusks, which were confiscated in 2002 in Singapore, don't find their way on to the black market.

Wednesday also marked the first Elephant Law Enforcement Day, meant to applaud international cooperation between gamekeepers, police and customs officials in the fight against the illegal trade in ivory.

Trade in illegal elephant tusks increased nine-fold between 2005 and 2010, to 5.7 tons per year, according to LATF.

Wildlife protection campaigners welcomed the ivory burning but said there should be stricter guidelines.

'WWF (World Wildlife Fund) believes that, as a matter of good practice, the quantity of ivory in question should always be independently verified before an incineration, in the interests of transparency and accountability,' Colman O'Criodain, the WWF's wildlife trade policy analyst, said.

'We share the view of most experts that illegal or poorly regulated domestic ivory markets in some countries - Thailand, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, in particular - are the main drivers of this increased elephant poaching,' he added.