NEIL Parish MP joined the International Fund for Animal Welfare this month as the charity crushed hundreds of items of unwanted ivory.

IFAW destroyed around 100kg of ivory items, ranging from whole elephant tusks to carvings and jewellery, in London to raise awareness of the ivory trade.

Mr Parish, chairman of the Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare, said: β€œIt’s fantastic that so much ivory has been donated by the UK public and put beyond use.”

After the items had passed through a giant crusher IFAW handed the remaining shards to the UK Border Force to destroy them permanently.