1 Ton of Illegal Ivory Will Be Publicly Destroyed in NYC Friday

WCS's 96 Elephants campaign, conservation — In the first year of WCS's 96 Elephants campaign, one of the accomplishments included the direct protection of elephants in 15 protected areas across Africa, estimated to contain some 45,000 elephants.

(Image credit: Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS)

In a public display against elephant poaching, U.S. officials will pulverize a huge store of illegal ivory tomorrow (June 19) in Times Square, in the heart of New York City.

To staunch the demand for elephants' tusks, officials from federal, state and nonprofit organizations are scheduled to destroy more than 1 ton of confiscated ivory.

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The ivory stockpile mostly came from an undercover operation conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in Philadelphia in 2009, Calvelli said. Gavin Shire, chief of public affairs for the FWS, said most of the confiscated pieces are large carved statues and tusks. Additional ivory came from busts made by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, including one in 2012 that resulted in $2.4 million worth of ivory being confiscated and that carried a $50,000 penalty, Calvelli said.

African elephants tend to be bigger and have larger tusks than their Asian counterparts, and were listed as a "threatened" species in 1978, which means the species is likely to become endangered if no interventions are put in place. From around 1980 to 1990, the African elephant population decreased by almost 50 percent. In 1989, the federal African Elephant Conservation Act put a ban on the import of African elephant ivory to the United States from any country, unless the elephant was killed before 1989.

After the confiscated ivory is crushed in Times Square, it will be added to the 6 tons of crushed ivory in Colorado, Shire said. Earlier this year, the FWS asked the public for ideas on what to do with the ivory dust. The only stipulation was that any sort of structure made from the ivory should carry a strong message to stop wildlife trafficking and the illegal ivory trade, ultimately in hopes of squelching demand for the material. The FWS was interested only in creations that would not imbue the ivory with any value, whether artistic or monetary, Shire said. "The aim was to show that ivory has no value when it's not on an elephant," Shire said.

Elizabeth is a staff writer for Live Science. She enjoys learning and writing about natural and health sciences, and is thrilled when she finds an evocative metaphor for an obscure scientific idea. She researched ancient iron formations in China for her Masters of Science degree in Geosciences at the University of California, Riverside, and went on to Columbia Journalism School for a master's degree in journalism, focusing on environmental and science writing.