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Singapore started crushing nine tonnes worth of elephant ivory on Tuesday, in what authorities said was the biggest such event globally in recent years and signalled the island nation’s fight against illegal trade in wildlife.
The city state, a nautical way point in shipments of banned animal products between Africa and Asia, is destroying tusks worth an estimated $18 million (US$13 million), including a record 8.8-tonne seizure last year which authorities said came from nearly 300 African elephants.
In the event, streamed online, workers in hard hats were seen emptying trolley-loads of tusks into a skip where they were then pulverised by an industrial rock crusher.
The crushing process may take several days and the fragments will then be incinerated.
“The destruction of the ivory … will prevent it from re-entering the market and will disrupt the global supply chain of illegally traded ivory,” the National Parks Board said of the event, which comes ahead of Wednesday’s World Elephant Day.
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