Chinese actress Li Bingbing, conservationists call for end to ivory trade

HONG KONG - Chinese actress Li Bingbing and the animal conservation group WildAid called on Friday for an end to the illegal trade in ivory and the slaughter of elephants. The "Transformers: Age of Extinction" star, who recently returned from a trip to Africa, described at a press conference how poachers kill elephants for their tusks. "They do not wait for the elephant to die before cutting off half its face to remove the tusk," she said. Despite a 1989 trade ban, conservationists said there is a large demand in China for illegal ivory. Hong Kong, with 8 tones of smuggled ivory seized in 2013 alone, is one of the largest ivory smuggling hubs in the world, according to WWF, the World Wildlife Fund.