Giraffe subspecies marked endangered

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – The Fish and Wildlife Services recently announced a new proposal to list three different subspecies of giraffes as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. 

The proposal comes after a petition from 2017 to list these three in the ESA. 

Jake Cash, Chattanooga Zoo Director of Marketing and Communications, stated that “US fish and wildlife service put out a statement about the potential of adding a few species of giraffes to the endangered list and some other species to have a threatened status. There are a few reasons that would be happening due to poaching habitat loss in areas in Africa. So, there’s some pretty startling statistics.” 

Some of these shocking statistics include the three subspecies of northern giraffe dropping 77 percent in population since the year 1985.

Although the giraffes at the Chattanooga Zoo do not fall under this proposal, if passed, federal protections will be put forward into action to fight the decline by reducing illegal importing of hunted giraffes and increasing funding for conservation.