In Congo, giraffes are being killed for their tails

Environment · Lorenzo Brenna · 2016-09-08

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a rare giraffe subspecies risks extinction because its tail is offered by grooms as a dowry.

There is always some anatomical part of an animal that humans desire to possess, for no apparent logical reason. Elephant tusks, rhinoceros horn, crocodile skin — we are sadly accustomed to these crimes; stranger, perhaps, may seem the fact that giraffes are being hunted and killed solely for their tails. Yet that is precisely what is happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and it risks driving a rare giraffe subspecies, the Kordofan giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis antiquorum), to extinction. According to Julian Fennessy, co-director of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF), fewer than two thousand individuals survive in the wild.

Giraffa al tramonto — According to data from the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, the giraffe population has nearly halved over the past fifteen years. From the late 1990s to the present day, the wild population has fallen from 140,000 to 80,000 individuals

Poaching in Congo

The Congolese Kordofan giraffes live in Garamba National Park and are the last individuals present in the Democratic Republic of Congo — which is why, as Fennessy explained, "every single giraffe is precious." Garamba, one of Africa's oldest and largest parks, has been hit hard by poaching in recent years, partly as a consequence of the political and civil instability that afflicts the country. The northern white rhinoceros population that was present has been wiped out, elephants have suffered severe losses, and giraffes are in danger.

Giraffa girata di spalle — Due to a traditional custom in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kordofan giraffes risk extinction

Why poachers want the tails

In Africa, giraffes are killed for various reasons — both to be eaten and to obtain bone marrow and brain (in Tanzania these are believed to be capable of curing Aids). In the Democratic Republic of Congo, these peaceful and peculiar mammals are instead killed for another reason: to take their tails, regarded as a true status symbol in some communities. In order to ask for a woman's hand in marriage, men must offer a giraffe tail to the bride's father as a dowry. The tail's long black hairs are also used to make good-luck bracelets, whips and rope.

The National Geographic video

Filmmaker David Hamlin of National Geographic, in Africa to film giraffes, instead captured footage of the discovery of three giraffe carcasses with their tails severed, found last June in Garamba park. Hamlin decided to document the slaughter carried out by poachers in order to raise public awareness of the poaching problem in the park.