Giraffes Need Protections of Endangered Species Act After Declining Numbers, U.S. Wildlife Officials Say

Mar. 15, 2025

Stock photo of Giraffe.Photo:Arthur Morris/Getty/Stock Image

Arthur Morris/Getty/Stock Image

Giraffes need new protections under the United States Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officialsproposedon Wednesday, Nov. 20.

West African, Kordofan and Nubian giraffes would be listed as endangered under the proposal. The Reticulated, Masai, Angolan and South African giraffes would be listed as threatened with a4(d) rule, meaning the FWS would issue protective regulations deemed “necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of” threatened species, per the proposal.

The reticulated and Masai giraffes would be considered threatened. The Angolan and South African giraffes are not currently endangered like the other species, but they would be treated as if they are due to their similar appearance, which would limit law enforcement’s ability to tell them apart.

“This action supports giraffe conservation while ensuring the United States does not contribute further to their decline,” Martha Williams, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a statement.

Stock photo of reticulated giraffes in Buffalo Springs National Reserve,.James Warwick/Getty/Stock Image

James Warwick/Getty/Stock Image

“We actually realized that there are fewer giraffes in Africa than elephants,” said Tanya Sanerib, international legal director with the Center for Biological Diversity, perThe New York Times. “The species had been undergoing a silent extinction.”

The decrease in population has been attributed to poaching, climate change drought and people’s seizing land for urbanization and agriculture. In 2022, the last year to capture international data on the animals, it was discovered that thousands of giraffe parts—trophies, skins, feet, bones, bone carvings, and leather pieces—entered the U.S.

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TheInternational Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red Listdeemed that giraffes (considered a single species) were threatened with extinction in 2016. As a result, advocacy groups began to petition for federal protections in 2017.

After the proposed rule is published in theFederal Registeron Nov. 21, it will be open for public comment for 90 days, the FWS notes. It could be finalized within a year, per theTimes.

source: people.com