THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala wildlife department is mulling a proposal to set afire a huge pile of ivory at its disposal to prevent its passage into the hands of smugglers or carvers in the future.

"It is just a proposal and we have not taken any final decision on it. Anyway, we are mulling it in the interest of protecting elephants," chief wildlife warden V Gopinathan said.

Tonnes of elephant tusk, either seized from smugglers or collected from dead jumbos, have been kept in various centres of the department across the state. "We cannot dismiss the possibility of IT reaching the hands of smugglers and illegal carvers in course of time," he said.

Gopinathan said if the huge stock reached smugglers, it would boost illegal ivory carving in the country. One way of avoiding that possibility is to destroy the stock, he explained.

"As per Wildlife Act, sale and carving of ivory is a crime. So the ivory in our stock has zero value even though it may be worth crores of rupees in the illegal market," he said.

If the proposal is finalised, Gopinathan said, Kerala might become the first state in the country to destroy ivory.

"I think no other state has destroyed ivory so far. It is very rare even in the global scenario. But many states have destroyed the horns of rhinos and such wildlife trophies," he added.

Elephant poaching is on the decline in the state and stoppage of the availability of ivory would further reduce the trend, Gopinathan revealed.

The department would go ahead with its plan if it gets permission from the state government.