They died to become chopsticks, bookmarks and other trinkets

 Photo: Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters

Immense Cache of Smuggled Ivory Is Seized in Malaysia      

From the New York Times

 NAIROBI, Kenya — Malaysian authorities said Tuesday that they had uncovered more than 1,000 smuggled elephant tusks hidden in secret compartments in two shipments of mahogany, a staggeringly large seizure that several conservationists said was the biggest in history. 

“It’s extremely depressing,” said Iain Douglas-Hamilton, one of the world’s most renowned elephant researchers, who has been studying the ivory trade for more than 30 years. “The price of ivory is making this situation insane.” 

Yes, I know, tis the season to be jolly and decking the halls with boughs of holly, but the news on the latest cache of elephant ivory is too terrible to ignore.

Read more here.