Seventy-two boxes – that is all that was left of 100 African elephants, killed for their tusks. Confiscated from an office in New York City’s diamond district in 2012, the 72 office boxes were filled with small ivory beads, figurines, charms and toys.
Demand for these trinkets, often from consumers unaware the ivory comes from animals recently and illegally killed, is what drives the mass slaughter of elephants.
In a recent interview, a convicted poacher who spent a decade running a gang in Kenya admitted to personally killing more than 70 elephants. “My attacks were so frequent that the elephants could not mate and have calves. There were not enough male bull elephants left,” he said.