Belgium has joined the club of nations that has destroyed their stockpiles of illegal elephant ivory seized from traffickers, a symbolic action against the illicit trade as the 28-nation European Union is mulling stronger action against illegal wildlife trafficking.

Dozens of reporters gathered to watch 1.7 Tons of Ivory worth about A$2 Million on the black market fed into the crusher at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, just outside Brussels.  Also there were ambassadors and dignitaries from various nations, including from the US, France, the UK, and the key elephant-range states of Tanzania and South Africa.

This happened just before today’s Conference on the EU Approach Against Wildlife Trafficking.  Some 160 representatives from EU member states, courts, international organizations, and research institutions are meeting in Brussels to discuss how the EU can combat the illegal trade in wildlife, both domestically and globally.

It’s hoped that Belgium will spur other European nations on to destroy their ivory stockpiles and work harder to stop elephant poaching.  Belgium follows the US, France, Gabon, Chad, China, Zambia, and the Philippines in crushing confiscated tusks and carvings.

The illegal ivory trade has doubled since 2007.  The International Fund for Animal Welfare group says some 50,000 elephants a year are killed for their tusks – a rate so high that if left unchecked, the animals face extinction in the wild in little more than a decade.