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The discussion followed the premiere of Academy Award-winning
director Kathryn Bigelow's virtual reality documentary "The
Protectors: Walk in the Rangers' Shoes." The eight-minute film
allows viewers to experience what it is like to work as a park
ranger trying to save elephants in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo.
"We've got to bust this market," Clinton said of the global
ivory trade.
The unexpected public appearance on Earth Day was one of several
Clinton has made recently, following a period of silence after
the former Democratic presidential candidate lost the November
election to President Donald Trump.
Clinton said she first began focusing on the "horrific
slaughter" of elephants when she was secretary of state and
later helped launch an anti-poaching initiative at her family's
nonprofit Clinton Global Initiative.
More than 30,000 elephants are killed by poachers every year in
Africa.
In addition to endangering vulnerable elephant populations,
trafficking also provides financial support to extremist
militant groups, Clinton said.
"When we were looking at this, we thought there were three
overriding goals: stop the killing, stop the trafficking and
stop the demand," she said.
While China is the world's biggest market for illegal ivory, the
United States ranks No. 2, Clinton said, requiring Americans to
take a leading role in fighting elephant poaching.
Clinton also mentioned the March for Science, which took place
in Washington and other cities around the world earlier on
Saturday. The Earth Day event was in effect a protest against
what critics say has been the Trump administration's disregard
for evidence-based knowledge and research.
"Here it is, Earth Day, and we are marching on behalf of
science," Clinton said to applause in the theater.
In early April, Clinton granted her first interview since her
defeat by Trump, breaking her silence at the Women in the World
Summit in New York. In front of a live audience, she voiced
support for U.S. bombing raids on Syrian airfields and said
Russian interference in the presidential election was a theft
more damaging than Watergate.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
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