Ton of ivory crushed in Times Square to highlight elephant poaching

U.S. Fish and Wildlife stand next to a conveyor belt with confiscated illegal ivory to be crushed in an effort to halt elephant poaching and ivory trafficking, Friday, June 19, 2015 at Times Square in New York. Animal advocates say the trade in ivory threatens to wipe out African elephants.(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) (The Associated Press)

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director Dan Ashe, left, and U.S. Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell, prepare to select confiscated illegal ivory to crush in an effort to halt elephant poaching and ivory trafficking, Friday, June 19, 2015, at Times Square in New York. Animal advocates say the trade in ivory threatens to wipe out African elephants.(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) (The Associated Press)

U.S. government displays confiscated illegal ivory before crushing more than a ton in an effort to halt elephant poaching and ivory trafficking, Friday, June 19, 2015, at Times Square in New York. Animal advocates say the trade in ivory threatens to wipe out African elephants.(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) (The Associated Press)

NEW YORK – The U.S. government is crushing more than a ton of confiscated illegal ivory in Times Square in an effort to halt elephant poaching and ivory trafficking.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Friday's event in New York would also crush "the bloody ivory market."

Hundreds of ivory trinkets were loaded onto a conveyor belt and into a rock crusher after Jewell joined officials from advocacy groups and other federal and state agencies for a news conference.

The crusher is depositing the powdered ivory into a trough to be trucked away.

Animal advocates say the trade in ivory threatens to wipe out African elephants.