Nearly 40,000 giraffe parts have been imported to the US in last 10 years

Researchers from the Humane Society found 52 US locations in which giraffe products continue to be sold

Sam Wolfson

Thu 23 Aug 2018 16.36 BSTLast modified on Thu 23 Aug 2018 17.06 BST

The giraffe population has fallen by around 40% since 1990. There are now fewer than 100,000 giraffes alive in the world, and there are now fewer giraffes than elephants in Africa.

Yet in America, trade in giraffe parts is booming. A report by the Humane Society of the United States, released on Thursday, found that nearly 40,000 giraffe parts have been imported to the US over the past decade, the equivalent, they estimate, of nearly 4,000 individual giraffes.

Researchers found giraffe products on sale in nearly 52 US locations. The most common products were giraffe hide boots and speciality knives made from giraffe bone, but they also found giraffe rugs, furniture and giraffe skin Bible covers.

When researchers interviewed those selling giraffe products they found that many admitted they had purchased the products from trophy hunters.

Two sellers, BS Trading in Texas and Whitten Cases in Florida, made claims to investigators that aggressive herds of giraffes must be killed in order to save African villages. The Humane Society says this is false, and that recent expert evaluation of giraffe species has found no evidence of either aggressive giraffe behaviour or retaliatory killings of giraffes. Neither store responded immediately to the Guardian for comment.

Read on