THORNBURY and Yate MP Luke Hall is leading calls for a UK ivory ban to help protect elephants from further slaughter for the illegal trade.

Mr Hall joined other MPs in attending an event in parliament organised by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Endangered Species to highlight the elephant poaching crisis and public support for a UK ivory ban.

Having previously spoken out on the issue and campaigned for the ban on ivory, the MP led a debate in Westminster last year on very topic.

Guests at the event were given the chance to view some of the many ivory items recently donated by members of the public to IFAW’s UK ivory surrender.

IFAW invited people to surrender their own ivory to be destroyed as part of a campaign to close the UK’s ivory market and save this iconic species from the threat of extinction.

The surrender has received overwhelming support from the UK public with almost 500 ivory items weighing around 150kg donated in just a few months.

Mr Hall said: “Time is running out for elephants and we must act now before it is too late. It is shocking seeing all this donated ivory when in reality each piece of ivory represents a dead elephant, shot or poisoned for its tusks.

“Clearly from the amount of ivory donated to IFAW’s ivory surrender more and more people recognise that ivory should only be valued on a live elephant. It is very good news that all this ivory will be put beyond use.”

Philip Mansbridge, UK director of IFAW, said: “There is clearly huge public momentum in the UK for an ivory ban.

“With elephant populations at an all-time low and the species facing extinction due to the ivory poaching crisis which is killing at least 20,000 elephants each year, it is fantastic to see so many people keen to give up their ivory.”

The Government recently announced that it had received more than 70,000 responses to its ivory ban consultation, one of the largest ever public responses to a Defra consultation, with the overwhelming majority analysed so far supportive of a ban.