Nairobi National
Park, Kenya (CNN)Twelve ivory towers burned in Kenya on Saturday, sending thick
plumes of ash and smoke over Nairobi National Park as elephant and rhino tusks
smoldered.
A rainy Saturday
afternoon brought together heads of state from several African nations and
hundreds of onlookers to watch Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta set fire to over
$172 million worth of illicit wildlife goods.
A somber mood took
over the crowd as the event began. They listened to the gust of wind feeding
the flames, and the crackle of burning ivory, rhino horn and other items.
Bright red embers bloomed inside the 10-foot high by 20-foot wide pyres,
turning the coveted white ivory tusks to nothing more than charred animal
remains.
Record number of
rhinos slaughtered last year in Africa
This was the most
significant demonstration against poaching in the region and the largest burn
of illegal wildlife products in history.
"The rising
value of elephant ivory trade, illegally on the international market, has
resulted in a massacre in the rainforest of Africa," Kenyan President
Uhuru Kenyatta told the crowd. "In 10 years in central Africa we have lost
as many as 70% of the elephants. The elephant, as has been said, is an iconic
symbol of our country. Unless we take action now we risk losing this
magnificent animal."
It took Kenya's
Wildlife Services 10 days to build the crematorium that contained the 105 tons
of elephant ivory, 1.35 tons of rhino horn, exotic animal skins and other
products such as sandalwood and medicinal bark. This was Kenya's fourth such
burn in a practice that goes back to 1989 -- an idea hatched to combat the
worsening poaching crisis.
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helicopter pilot dies trying to protect elephants
Priceless and
worthless at the same time
The tusks alone --
from about 8,000 elephants -- would be worth more than $105 million on the
black market, according to wildlife trade expert Esmond Bradley Martin. The
rhino horn, from 343 animals, would be worth more than $67 million.
That's one and a
half times more than Kenya spends on its environmental and natural resources
agency every year.
But the Kenyans say
that the stockpile is not valuable -- it's worthless.
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"From a Kenyan
perspective, we're not watching any money go up in smoke," Kenya Wildlife
Service Director General Kitili Mbathi said. "The only value of the ivory
is tusks on a live elephant."
Mbathi, who oversaw
the burn, explained how a fuel pumping system that combined kerosene and diesel
had been built to aid the combustion of the pyres, which would take about a
week to completely burn.
Critics of the burn
worry the destruction of this stockpile will increase the price of ivory in the
black market and encourage more poaching.
"That is an
ignorant idea," renowned conservationist Richard Leakey told the crowd at
the burn ceremony. "We did it before and prices went from $300 down to $5
within three months of that fire. It is quite shameful the slaughter of these wild
species in a world that seems hell bent on destroying itself anyway -- let's
give our support to nature and the endangered species."
Sending a public
message
3Elephants are under
serious threat. Every 15 minutes, an elephant is killed for its tusks. And some
1,338 rhinos were poached in Africa last year, a record number and the sixth
year in a row that the number of poaching incidents has increased.
"Today's event
allows Kenya to send a very public message to the international community and
here in Kenya, that it does not tolerate and it will not tolerate the illegal
trade in wildlife," John Scanlon, spokesman for the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), told the crowd.
"Not only it
has a devastating impact on the animal themselves and their ecosystem but it
has an impact on security, on livelihoods and on economy," said Scanlon.
Kenya's tourism,
based mostly around its wildlife, makes up about 12% of the country's GDP. Over
its life, a live elephant generates 76 times more in tourism revenue than it
does for its ivory, according to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, an
elephant rescue and rehabilitation group.
Tigers in the wild
increase for first time in a century
Back at Nairobi
National Park, the clouds of smoke have turned the sky a fetid gray shade of
green. Organizers hope this image, and stigma, will be burned into memory
forever.
Response:
This article is
discussing a solution to the epidemic in Kenya and other east African
countries. To fight the illegal poaching of ivory tusks, the Kenya Wildlife
Services along with Kenyan politicians burned a lot of tusks that were
illegally acquired. This article hardly contained any bias because it reported
what happened with facts. The only bias I detected is the arrangement and order
of the information presented. It started out and placed more emphasis on the
side for the burning of the tusks. However, the article also included the
argument of the other side opposed to burning tusks. It then quickly switched
back to supplying support for this act. In my opinion, this article hits home
and I support burning illegal tusks. Some may look at it as a waste of money,
but by doing this the nation of Kenya takes a stand against elephant and rhino
poaching.
Citation:
