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Kenya’s first ivory burn: an influential moment in the history of elephant conservation

In July of 1989, Kenya’s then-President, Daniel Arap Moi, symbolically set light to the Kenya Wildlife Service’s 12 tonne stockpile of seized ivory. This would be the first of five such ivory-destruction events in Kenyan history.

Paul Udoto, then a spokesperson for the KWS, stated at the time that the burn event was a “desperate measure meant to send a message to the world about the destruction through poaching of Kenya’s elephants”.

Send a message the KWS and Kenyan government did. Not only was this the first recorded ivory mass-destruction event in Kenyan history, it was the first recorded in the world.

Less than two months later, on October 17th, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) enforced a worldwide ban on the sale of ivory.

Build up to the burn, and the ban

Over the course of the 1970s and ’80s, Kenya and, indeed, Africa as a whole saw poaching and legal hunting for elephant and rhino rise rapidly. This was partly fuelled by increased globalisation and the realisation made by poachers in Africa that international markets provided ample opportunity for fast profits on the sale of ivory and rhino horn.

Between 1973 and 1977, Kenya’s elephant population feel from an estimated 167,000 individuals to between 60,000-71,500. This huge, unprecedented loss of life eventually prompted governmental and international attention.

Kenya’s government realised before most others that, with then-current poaching rates, the African elephant, icon of the nation’s wild spaces, could be poached into extinction. The burning of the confiscated ivory was a move designed to deny the ivory market but also, in the manner it was conducted, send a message.

Other countries who have since decided to destroy their own stockpiles have opted for less sensational methods. Part of the reason why is because ivory takes an inordinately long time to burn.

According to a study published in 2008, burning ivory at 1000 degrees Celsius brings about the loss of 7kg of ivory per minute. That means that it takes around a week to destroy an average male elephants tusk.

In fact, in order to complete the burns that Kenya has done over the years, a system of pipes had to be erected underneath the ivory piles. Jet fuel was then flushed through the pipes and into the inferno to keep it going. As a result of this difficulty, most countries opt to crush the ivory that they confiscate.

Though crushing is seen as more efficient, it loses the sensational imagery that is, as with any conflict, essential if elephant poaching is to be eradicated.

When, in 2016, the KWS conducted the largest ever stockpile destruction of ivory and rhino horn, they chose again to use fire. The 105 tonnes of ivory and horn were what was left of 8,000 elephant and 300 rhinoceros dead. The grisly remains comprised 11 byres, each several metres high. It is only through visual representations such as these that we, as a species, fully grasp the impact we are having on the natural world.

Ivory Burn Resize Art

State of elephant poaching today, in Kenya and the world in general

Kenya’s stance on poaching and elephant conservation has been consistently no-nonsense. Since 1989, this country has succeeded where most others have faltered. Though new challenges are posed daily to wildlife conservationists, and despite that the elephant populations in this country might never reach pre-1970 levels, the fact that poaching is on the decrease here is incredibly good news.

In 2013, 386 elephants were killed by poachers (statistics provided by the KWS). In 2020, that number was brought down to 11.

And this follows a general trend downward. In 2018, 80 elephant were poached, and in 2019 that number was 34.

This is incredibly heart-warming for those of us involved in elephant conservation and, despite that this is only one battleground on which we fight to conserve this iconic species, we are incredibly proud that, in this, the tide seems to be turning.

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