In a Seaside Ceremony, Leaders Apologized for Complicity in Poaching

Last month, Sri Lanka publicly destroyed its stores of confiscated ivory. In doing so, it became the 16th country to demonstrate a commitment to both ending this illegal trade and also to preventing confiscated ivory from making its way back onto the black market.

However, Sri Lanka was the first of its predecessors to enhance this crucial gesture with a formal apology, expressing regret for its prior complicity in poaching.

The ivory—359 tusks in total—was crushed in a seaside ceremony which began with two minutes of reflective silence.The ceremony was presided over by a group of Buddhist monks, with participation from Hindu, Christian, and Muslim clerics. Together, the monks and their fellow religious leaders chanted prayers that the elephants killed for their ivory might experience “rebirth without suffering.”

We applaud Sri Lanka’s new government for sending the powerful message that it will no longer tolerate the use of Sri Lanka as a transit country for ivory traffickers.

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