Scientists mull putting giraffe in list of world’s endangered species

A giraffe browsing at the Maasai Mara National Reserve. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The Fish and Wildlife Service will now begin an in-depth review before making a final decision.
  • Conservationists say there is a strong argument for listing giraffes under the Endangered Species Act.
  • Poaching and legal hunting have also contributed to the decline.

American wildlife officials have said they would officially consider listing the giraffe as an endangered species, a move long sought by conservationists alarmed by the African mammal’s precipitous decline and a growing domestic market for giraffe products.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service said on Thursday that it had found “substantial information” that listing giraffes as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act “may be warranted.”

PROTECTION

The finding came more than two years after conservation groups petitioned the Trump administration for the protection, warning that the animals were in danger of extinction.

The Fish and Wildlife Service will now begin an in-depth review before making a final decision. The process could take years, conservationists said.

Designating giraffes as endangered or threatened would place restrictions on their import into the United States and make federal funding available for conservation efforts.

Conservationists also hope that a listing could elevate the giraffes’ plight, which they said was often overshadowed by higher-profile initiatives to protect lions, elephants and other distinctive animals.

ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT

“Tonnes of money is poured into conservation projects for these species,” said Adam Peyman, manager of wildlife programmes and operations for the Humane Society International, one of the groups that filed the petition.

“Giraffes just don’t enjoy that.”

Conservationists say there is a strong argument for listing giraffes under the Endangered Species Act.

The population of giraffes, the tallest land animals on the planet, has declined about 40 per cent in the last 30 years, according to the groups’ petition. They estimate the population today is close to 97,000.

Among the biggest threats to giraffes is habitat loss driven by the expansion of cities, agriculture and timber harvest. Poaching and legal hunting have also contributed to the decline.

EXTINCTION

In 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources declared the giraffe “vulnerable to extinction.”

The market for products derived from giraffes has also increased in the United States.

According to a report released last year by the Humane Society of the United States, more than 40,000 giraffe parts were imported from 2006 to 2015 to be made into expensive pillows, boots, knife handles, Bible covers and other trinkets.

Peyman acknowledged, however, that legal hunting had a relatively small impact on giraffe populations when compared with habitat loss or poaching. He said it was not clear how much of the giraffe products’ import comes from poaching.

“What we want to do is raise that bar, make it so that giraffes aren’t threatened by trade in addition to the other threats they are facing,” he said.

HUNTING

Some, however, say that listing the giraffes under the Endangered Species Act could have an adverse impact on their population.

The Safari Club International, a pro-hunting group, said that the potential measures “would reduce US hunters’ willingness to pay top dollar for giraffe hunts,” money that could in turn be used to buy land to increase giraffes’ habitat or fund anti-poaching programmes.

“Many species, including giraffes, benefit from this investment in conservation,” the group said in a statement. “Without offering anything in return, an ESA listing could reduce the revenues and incentives currently being generated by hunting.”