The year of 2013 saw a continued, if not increased, demand for ivory. Mostly from southeast Asia and China, this demand has spurred an incredibly disastrous epidemic of murder. Elephants are being illegally killed in the thousands as a culture and illegal trade network has formed.

One way to combat the ever growing illegal market of the ivory trade is through education and removing as much ivory from the market as possible. This is done through public demonstrations called Ivory Crush.

An Ivory Crush is when a large quantity of ivory is gathered, mostly from the illegal trade, and is crushed to remove it from the market as well as making it invaluable. These public demonstrations have started to become more frequent around the world and are usually performed by governments, sending a strong message to the illegal ivory trade.

Even China, the heart of the illegal ivory trade market has participated in demonstrations to remove ivory from the market. Just last month, China started 2014 off with the surprising action of destroying six tons of illegal ivory in their own ivory crush.  They will soon be followed by Hong Kong, who plans on destroying 28 tons of ivory.

The latest Ivory Crush demonstration took place on February 6 in Paris, France, where a total of 3.5 tons of ivory was destroyed at the foot of the iconic Eiffel Tower. The video below shows the demonstration in France.

With every public Ivory Crush demonstration and continued education, perhaps there is a chance for the elephants of the world to survive. However, to have elephant populations rise again, the demand for ivory needs to disappear.