This archive report was first published on 21 August 2019.
Published on August 21, 2019, the ongoing Cites conference is set to discuss the protection of giraffes, among other species.
Environmentalists are sounding the alarm over the 'silent extinction' of giraffes, with numbers dropping by 40% over the last 30 years due to habitat loss, civil unrest, and the international trade in body parts.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is supporting the construction of community wildlife ranger bases along the Kenya-Tanzania border and providing rations, supplies, and salaries to community wildlife rangers to mitigate the decline.
For the first time at Cites, a proposal has been made to give giraffes a measure of protection from trade, with the US reporting almost 40,000 giraffe items traded between 2006 and 2015.
‘It is essential that giraffes are listed by Cites to understand the impact of trade on their population decline,’ said Matt Collis from IFAW.
A recent incident in Kenya highlights the need for protection, where a giraffe was found with a spear protruding from its abdomen near the Ongata-Rongai area.
