African 'blood ivory' destroyed in New York to signal crackdown on illegal trade

Symbolic act of destroying more than one US ton of ivory seeks to 'crush any hopes by poachers that they will profit by killing off our Earth's elephants'

The US government destroyed more than one US ton (907kg) of "blood ivory" before crowds in New York's Times Square on Friday, in a move designed to signal a dramatic crackdown on the illegal trade.

The display was co-ordinated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the New York state department of environmental conservation, together with a coalition of wildlife conservation groups.