100 elephants are killed each day by poachersHong Kong has a huge stockpile of illegal ivory seized from smugglers (33 tonnes, or around 72,750 pounds). The Endangered Species Advisory Committee just had a vote to decide what to do with it, and the decision was to destroy the ivory by incineration. This move follows in the footsteps of China, the U.S., the Philippines, Gabon and Kenya, all of which have taken steps to destroy their ivory stocks.
A small fraction of the stock will be kept for educational purposes, but all the rest will be destroyed over a 1-2 years beginning in the first half of this year.
It is estimated that around 100 elephants are being killed each day by poachers to meet the growing demand for ivory in Asia. The amount of ivory seized in 2013 was 44+ tonnes, or 97,000 pounds. That's the highest in over 25 years...
There are other ways than fire to destroy ivory, such as crushing it into small bits, like in this photo:
This took place in Manila at the wildlife bureau compound. More details here.
Via Wildlife News