NEW YORKRoughly one ton of elephant ivory was crushed in front of a crowd of spectators in Times Square Friday. Organizers hope the crushing of tusks and tchotkes will deter people from buying ivory products and lead to the eventual shutdown of the illegal ivory trade.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hosted the event with a number of conservation groups. It followed the U.S. government’s crush of about six tons of ivory in Denver (here’s a video of it) in November 2013 and was part of a growing movement to destroy ivory stockpiles and raise public consciousness. In May, China destroyed nearly 1,500 pounds of seized ivory tusks and carvings in Beijing. Similar events have been held in Hong