An industrial rock crusher pulverizes a ton of raw and carved ivory tusks and statues in Times Square. Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
NEW YORKIn front of a cheering crowd in Times Square Friday, a government official placed an ornately carved elephant tusk onto a conveyer belt. The piece of ivory rode up a ramp and fell into the Trakpactor 260. The 50,000-pound rock crusher groaned, shook, and spat out a fine white dust.
After a few minutes, dust was all that was left of roughly a ton of tusks, jewelry, and other ivory products that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies seized over the past few years.
“Today's crush represents a message to poachers that their greed will no longer be tolerated,” said Dan Ashe, the director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, who had also presided over an ivory crush
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