An unnamed 20-year-old man succeeded last week in combining trafficking in the infamous ivory trade with the destruction of historical artifacts to become one of the truly vile humans on Earth. The man broke into the Paris National History museum and cut off the tusk of the famous Louis XIV elephant with a chainsaw. An alert neighbor heard the sound of the chainsaw and called police. The man was arrested as he tried to make his escape.
The “Sun King” was given the elephant when it was alive by a Portuguese King in 1668. It lived for 13 years in the royal menagerie at Versailles (shown right). When it died, it was given to the museum and has remained as not just a natural history exhibit but a historical artifact.
The man was taken to the hospital after fracturing his ankle in his escape. He presumably was not met at the ER with a doctor with a chainsaw, but it would have been tempting.
Notably, this is the second time the elephant has been denied its tusks. The tusk cut off by the felon was not the original. This tusk however dated back to the 19th century. The French are facing a crime wave of tusks and horns taken from live animals in zoos as well as museum as part of the lucrative ivory trade.
Source: Guardian
At least he went after the ivory of a dead elephant rather than killing a live one.
“The man broke into the Paris National History museum…”
One has to wonder about the museum’s security system… and how it was breached.
Maybe they could send him to prison in Côte d’Ivoire.
A vile act done by a stupid individual. I hope he spends a lot of time in jail and maybe he should do some shoveling at the zoo in the elephant areas every day for a few years.
Cut off his ‘good arm’ with a chain saw……………..
Reblogged this on euzicasa and commented:
Louis XIV is outraged!
A crime wave of theft is a child of plutocracy, so get ready here and there, according to David Stockman, Budget Czar in the Reagan Administration.
Well I agree about his relative vileness. He took a tusk off a dead elephant; it’s not like taking part or ALL of someone’s life, an every-day occurrence that has become so streamlined we do not even recognize it as news. This criminal was dumb, though; goes in the dumb criminals book.
Justice,
Papa Doc was just misunderstood….
“One of the most vile humans”, hyperbole I trust. He can hardly hold a candle to our own lovelies like Cheney or humans from other countries like Papa Doc Duvalier or Hitler or a million others.
Irony in ivory….