US destroys confiscated ivory stockpile - in pictures

Ivory tusks, estimated by US wildlife officials to be from around 2,000 elephants, are sorted at the national wildlife property repository in Denver, Colorado, as the US fish and wildlife service prepares to destroy their entire stockpile of seized ivory, dating back to the 1980s Photograph: Alex Hofford/EPA

Steve Oberholtzer, a special agent for the FWS, talks about ivory poachers. The ivory items were seized from smugglers, traders and tourists at US ports of entry after a global ban on the ivory trade went into effect in 1989 Photograph: Ed Andrieski/AP

Confiscated carved and decorated ivory jewellery is displayed in Denver Photograph: Rick Wilking/Reuters

A federal wildlife officer lifts a confiscated carved elephant tusk Photograph: Rick Wilking/Reuters

FWS agent David Bonham and others carry confiscated ivory to a crusher Photograph: Brennan Linsley/AP

US wildlife officials sort the ivory before it is crushed Photograph: Alex Hofford/EPA

Carved ivory items are sorted before being crushed Photograph: Alex Hofford/EPA

Actor Kristin Davis, a patron for the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, lays an item to be crushed Photograph: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

A decoratively carved ivory tusk Photograph: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Edward Grace, a wildlife enforcement agent, holds a carved ivory tusk Photograph: Ed Andrieski/AP

Confiscated ivory tusks are stacked before they are destroyed in a rock crushing machine Photograph: Alex Hofford/EPA

The FWS aims to send a strong signal to poachers in Africa, and consumers in Asia and the US, that the US government will not tolerate ivory trafficking Photograph: Alex Hofford/EPA

Workers shovel crushed confiscated ivory. Elephant populations are in steep decline due to poaching and rampant demand, mostly from China, but also the US Photograph: Alex Hofford/EPA

The destruction follows similar events in Gabon, Kenya and the Philippines Photograph: Alex Hofford/EPA