Brussels, April 10 (IANS) In conjunction with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the Belgian government Wednesday destroyed its stockpile of seized ivory weighing more than 1.5 tonnes, Xinhua reported.
With this action, "Belgium joins in the movement initiated by our Chinese, American and French colleagues who have all recently completed the destruction of illegal ivory stocks," Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Laurette Onkelinx said during the event held on the outskirts of Brussels.
The action sent a strong signal to those poachers that the illegal action of hunting elephant must be eradicated and the ivory trade is doomed to failure, especially because the seized stocks will never be regularized or put back in the trade, he said.
"Belgium does not tolerate the trafficking of ivory or its consequences on elephant populations," the vice PM added.
Illegal ivory trade activity worldwide has more than doubled since 2007, and is now over three times larger than it was in 1998, Asian Regional Director of IFAW Grace Gabriel said in an interview.
According to Bagrielher, 25,000 to 50,000 elephants are killed each year, or 100 elephants ay, which means that every 15 minutes, an elephant is seen pulling its defences.
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