By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
Some fights for animals are a long-game—and that’s certainly been the case for everyone’s favorite long-necked animal, the giraffe. After years of advocacy, we are thrilled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed listing all four species of giraffes under the Endangered Species Act. This overdue proposal comes thanks to a petition and lawsuit brought by us and our allies.
Since the 1980s, giraffe populations have dropped nearly 40% because of habitat loss, human-caused habitat changes, poaching and civil unrest in regions where these animals live. There are fewer than 69,000 mature giraffes remaining in the wild. The international trade in giraffe bone carvings, skins and trophies puts extra pressure on giraffe populations. Our undercover investigation into the U.S. giraffe market in 2021 exposed how American imports of giraffe trophies and body parts are a factor driving the animals toward extinction. The U.S. imports more giraffe products than any other country in the world.
To protect these animals, the Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society International, the Center for Biological Diversity and other allies petitioned for protections for giraffes in 2017. But it wasn’t until we and our partners filed a lawsuit in 2021 that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service committed to a deadline by which it would decide whether giraffes should be protected—a decision that should have been made in 2018 under the law. Since then, we have been pushing the agency to move urgently to protect these animals—now we are so close.
Giraffes mature slowly and birth only a few calves in their lifetimes, which means it can take a dangerously long time for populations to recover from decimation. Protections can’t come too soon.
Listing under the Endangered Species Act won’t solve all the problems facing giraffes, but controlling imports will go a long way toward curbing poaching and reducing the United States’ outsized role in the market for giraffe products. The agency’s proposal recognizes four species of giraffe as in need of protection—designating the northern giraffe as endangered, two eastern species as threatened, and listing the southern species under a provision that would protect them because of their similarity of appearance to other giraffe species. Under the proposal, giraffe imports—including hunting trophies, hides, bones and other products—will be prohibited without a federal permit.
This week’s decision opens a 90-day comment period; a final listing decision should be made within a year. This means that you can have a hand in bringing protections to animals who so sorely need them: Tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to act quickly to give giraffes the protections they deserve.
Kitty Block is CEO of the Humane Society of the United States
