Prayers of Buddhist monks and Hindi priests rose in the air for the hundreds of thousands of elephants slaughtered for their ivory as an industrial crusher came to life in Thailand’s capital city of Bangkok. Over two tons of elephant tusks, carved ivory, and trinkets—most of it from elephants poached a continent away in Africa—made its way into the machine that ground the ivory into chips.
The solemn ceremony to destroy Thailand’s illegal ivory follows a number of important laws the country passed to crack down on the illegal ivory trade.
“Thailand’s ivory destruction is more than just a symbolic event since it follows a series of important steps that the country has taken to tackle illegal ivory trade in the past year," said WWF’s Janpai Ongsiriwittaya, who played a lead role in conducting an audit of the ivory stockpile held by the Thai government. “For too long Thailand has been exploited by wildlife criminals as both a gateway and marketplace for ivory poached in Africa and Asia. This event aligns the commitment of the Thai government and the will of the Thai people with the global priority of stopping the illegal ivory trade.”illegal ivory trade and the demand for ivory for the future of wild elephants.