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Mozambique burned 2.5 tonnes of seized ivory and rhino horn on Monday as part of a campaign to end an illicit trade that is fueling a wave of big animal poaching in Africa, a conservation group said.
Over 2,400 kgs of ivory and 86 pieces of rhino horn weighing 193.5 kgs were put to the torch in the first major destruction of rhino horn ever. The Wildlife Conservation Society said in a statement.
Mozambique environment minister, Celso Correia said that the country was not going to tolerate poachers, traffickers and the organized criminals who employ and pay to kill the wildlife.
According to Reuters, a recent survey showed Mozambique lost around 10,000 elephants, over the past five years to poachers who have been feeding demand for ivory from fast-growing Asian economies.
In the last three months the Republic of Congo, China, the United Arab Emirates and the United States have publicly destroyed ivory stocks.
