The World - News from June 23, 1989

President Daniel Arap Moi said Kenya will burn 12 tons of confiscated elephant tusks in an effort to destroy the illegal ivory market, and he urged other African countries to follow suit. The East African nation earlier called for a worldwide ban on the purchase and sale of ivory and ivory products to deter poachers from killing elephants. A recent survey showed there are as few as 6,000 wild elephants remaining in Kenya’s Tsavo Game Park, down from 20,000 a decade ago. The same survey reported 5,000 elephant corpses left behind by poachers. Officials estimate that only 15,000 elephants remain in the country despite the government’s policy of shooting poachers on sight.