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Kenya torches world's biggest ivory bonfire to save elephants

The bonfires are the largest-ever torching of ivory, containing 105 tonnes from thousands of dead elephants.

By :  dr swati srivastava
Update: 2016-05-03 10:04 GMT
On the black market, such a quantity of ivory could sell for over $100 million, and the rhino horn could raise as much as $80 million.
Kenya has a long history of ivory burnings, spearheading a wider movement of public demonstrations across the world, but nothing on this scale before.
Another 1.35 tonnes of rhino horn are also being burned, representing the killing of around 340 of the endangered animals.
Africa is home to between 450,000 to 500,000 elephants, but more than 30,000 are killed every year on the continent to satisfy demand for ivory in Asia, where raw tusks sell for around $1,000 (800 euros) a kilo (2.2 pounds).
The bonfires are the largest-ever torching of ivory, containing 105 tonnes from thousands of dead elephants, seven times bigger than any stockpile burned before.
Lighting the fire in Nairobi's national park, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta demanded a total ban on trade in ivory to end the 'murderous' trafficking and prevent the extinction of elephants in the wild.
Over 100 tonnes of ivory was burnt at the Nairobi National Park. (Photo: AP)
Eleven giant pyres of tusks were set alight as Kenya torched its vast ivory stockpile in a grand gesture aimed at shocking the world into stopping the slaughter of elephants.
The bonfires are the largest-ever torching of ivory, containing 105 tonnes from thousands of dead elephants.

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