Nairobi National Park that would ultimately consume one hundred tons of elephant tusks. In an editorial, President Kenyatta wrote that his intent was to, “do my part to destroy any possibility that poachers and their accomplices might benefit from the slaughter of Kenya’s elephants.” His thinking is right on target.
One hundred tons; 7,000 elephants. Not just 7,000 murdered elephants, but the turmoil of their families and the suffering of orphans slowly starving. Few crimes are more egregious in their destructiveness and cruelty.“Let me also be perfectly clear,” Kenyatta continued, “We impose some of the toughest penalties anywhere on earth for wildlife and natural heritage crimes.”

When I was in Kenya in 2013 working on my book Beyond Words; What Animals Think and Feel, poachers were constantly killing elephants even in national parks and reserves. I saw it up close and it was enormously disturbing. Penalties for elephant killing and other wildlife crime in Kenya have in fact increased dramatically in the last three years.

But even many people who support drastic penalties don’t understand why burning can help. They think it’s a waste. After all, the elephants are already dead. One objection to burning goes like this: destroying so much of the world supply will make prices go through the roof. If this thinking is correct, it only proves how porous and corrupt the practice of stockpiling ivory is, because stockpiled ivory is not supposed to be part of the world supply. Kenya’s stockpile for example is from illegally killed elephants tusks confiscated from poachers and is supposed to be locked away.