A group of conservationists have written to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa calling on him to destroy a stockpile of seized African ivory tusks worth about $2.6 million, which he was to gift to a Buddhist temple.
The Federation of Environmental Organisations of Sri Lanka and the Clinton Global Initiative wrote to Rajapaksa, stating Sri Lanka should demonstrate its “sincere commitment” to opposing the ivory trade by destroying the stockpile of 359 Tanzanian elephant tusks.
Rajapaksa’s chief of staff had earlier written to the director general of Sri Lanka’s Customs department, saying, “I shall be thankful if you could kindly get the tusks released to the Presidential Secretariat as early as possible.”
In 2013, Rajapaksa sought to get the tusks donated to the Sri Dalada Maligawa Buddhist temple, a move that activists say would have been in violation of UN laws on wildlife trade.
See more from the Australian here.
Also see our earlier post: Seized African ivory tusks gifted to Buddhist temples (28 January 2013)
