Foyle MP Mark Durkan joined forces with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) at Westminster as the charity crushed hundreds of items of unwanted ivory to help protect elephants from the deadly ivory trade.
Foyle MP Mark Durkan backing the “ivory crush” at Westminster.
The SDLP representative said he was “very pleased” to support the campaign.
He said: “I am very pleased be able to support IFAW’s ivory destruction to raise awareness of the “deadly trade” which sees elephants killed for trinkets which nobody needs. It is fantastic that so much ivory has been donated by the public and put beyond use.”
IFAW destroyed around 100 kgs of ivory items ranging from whole elephant tusks to carvings and jewellery in spectacular fashion in London to raise awareness of the ivory trade and show support for elephant protection.
Alarmingly, an elephant is killed every 15 minutes for its ivory. It is estimated that at least 25,000 elephants and up to 50,000 are slaughtered each year for their tusks.
Members of the public had donated their unwanted ivory items for the crush event. As well as ensuring the donated ivory does not find its way onto the marketplace, IFAW staged the event to symbolise public support for elephants and call for increased measures to tackle the poaching crisis ahead of a high-level international summit on illegal wildlife trade which took place in London on Thursday.
Tags:
