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Elephants are in danger. Hunters kill them for their tusks. The hunters sell the tusks because they are made from ivory. The USA is working to stop this trade. It wants to protect the world's elephants. On Thursday, the U.S. government burnt almost 6,000 kilograms of ivory tusks. They also destroyed ivory carvings and jewellery. The USA wants to send a message to poachers (people who illegally hunt and kill elephants) to stop killing elephants. More and more elephants in Africa are dying. It is difficult for African countries to stop the poachers. On Wednesday the USA offered a $1 million reward for anyone who has information about a group in Laos that buys and sells ivory.
Conservationists (people who want to protect animals and the Earth) are happy with the USA's actions. They say one way to end poaching is to make it unprofitable. If poachers know they cannot make money from ivory, they will not kill elephants. Adam Roberts of the Born Free USA conservation group said: "Any time we can remove ivory from the marketplace, it's a win for elephants, because it suggests to the world that there isn't profitability to be had by selling ivory. And if there's no profitability in selling ivory, there's no profitability in poaching elephants." A worldwide ban on trading ivory started in 1989. It has helped to protect elephants, but the world needs to do a lot more.
