U.S. Agency Applauds France for Ivory Crush

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service commends France for destroying 3 tons of illegal ivory seized by customs and law enforcement officials between 1987 and 2007 as a step in reducing the demand for ivory that threatens the existence of African elephants.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on February 6 commended France for destroying 3 tons of illegal ivory seized by customs and law enforcement officials between 1987 and 2007.

“France now joins the United States, China, Kenya, Gabon and the Philippines in sending a message to wildlife traffickers and poachers that their ivory is worthless,” Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe said in a statement on the agency website. “If African elephants continue to be killed at current rates to fuel the demand for ivory, their extinction in the wild is inevitable in just a matter of a decade or two.

“The survival of the African elephant can only be assured with the support of every nation to halt both the demand for and the supply of ivory. I am greatly encouraged that the first European Union country has now underscored that support with this symbolic event, and I hope that others will follow,” Ashe said.

Global momentum is building within the international community, the Fish and Wildlife Service said, to fight wildlife trafficking and save the world's most threatened species.