To resolve your SVG removal issue (after ensuring you have valid HTML) - apply the following code to the top of your page in replace of the standard <html>
.
<!--[if lt IE 9]> <html class="lt-ie9"> <![endif]-->
<!--[if gt IE 9]><!--> <html> <!--<![endif]-->
This will apply the class "lt-ie9" to the whole page where the IE version is less than version 9. Any version, 9 or higher, will display the normal <html> without a class.
At this point, you have a class that you can use in CSS to remove any element for those browsers.
.lt-ie9 svg {display: none;} /* this will remove all SVG elements with the class */
*Disclaimer: It's been a while since I've tried this on IE8. It may only work if you wrap your SVG in a div.lt-ie9 and apply it to the parent instead - I can't remember what errors are thrown. I'd test it, but I'm on Ubuntu and no VM on this machine.*
NOTE: The method of using conditional IE comments in your parent elements - either <html> or <body> - is common, there are lots of variants. You should apply some research in this area and use a more general case than the one provided here. This will afford you the wider benefits of this technique as well as solving this issue specifically.