--- title: Giraffes: Advocates Push for Inclusion on Endangered List description: Five wildlife groups have submitted a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list giraffes as an endangered species canonical: https://time.com/4750296/giraffes-endangered-list/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-21T16:22:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:32:39.307Z article:section: Science og:title: Advocates Really Want Giraffes to Be Included on the Endangered Species List og:description: Giraffes were classified as "vulnerable" in 2016 og:url: https://time.com/4750296/giraffes-endangered-list/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b2a7304222d830/6988c3f3656a3f1116bcfab1/gettyimages-632069124.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: giraffes-endangered-petition og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Advocates Really Want Giraffes to Be Included on the Endangered Species List twitter:description: Giraffes were classified as "vulnerable" in 2016 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b2a7304222d830/6988c3f3656a3f1116bcfab1/gettyimages-632069124.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Advocates Really Want Giraffes to Be Included on the Endangered Species List by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Apr 21, 2017 4:22 PM UTC  Murchison (L), a baby Rothschild giraffe, receives attention from another giraffe as he ventures out of the Giraffe House at Chester Zoo in Chester, north-west England, on January 19, 2017 for the first time. Despite the best efforts of the keepers the calf has been reluctant to step into the outdoors until today. The zoo celebrated the birth of a rare Rothschild's giraffe calf, whose number has dwindled to fewer than 1,600 in its native Kenya and Uganda on Boxing Day last year. / AFP / Paul ELLIS (Photo credit should read PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images) Murchison (L), a baby Rothschild giraffe, receives attention from another giraffe as he ventures out of the Giraffe House at Chester Zoo in Chester, north-west England, on January 19, 2017 for the first time. Despite the best efforts of the keepers the calf has been reluctant to step into the outdoors until today. The zoo celebrated the birth of a rare Rothschild's giraffe calf, whose number has dwindled to fewer than 1,600 in its native Kenya and Uganda on Boxing Day last year. / AFP / Paul ELLIS (Photo credit should read PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images)Pal Ellis—Getty/AFP by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Apr 21, 2017 4:22 PM UTC Five wildlife groups are pushing for giraffes to be included on the endangered species list through a [petition](http://www.ifaw.org/sites/default/files/default/Giraffe%5FESA%5FPetition%5Ffinal.pdf) that was sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday. The giraffe population declined by 40% over the past 30 years, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. There are 97,000 giraffes in the wild, which is down from the estimated 151,000 to 163,000 that existed in 1985, according to the council. The NRDC maintains that the declining population is a result of “giraffe hunting for bushmeat, habitat destruction and fragmentation and the international trade in giraffe bone carvings and hunting trophies.” The International Union for Conservation of Nature released a report that said [giraffes were “vulnerable” to extinction](http://time.com/4594882/giraffe-extinction-threat-africa/) in 2016. “Losing one of the continent’s iconic species would be an absolute travesty,” NRDC Deputy Director Elly Pepper told [USA _Today_](https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2017/04/19/wildlife-groups-petition-add-giraffes-endangered-species-list/100659562/). “Giving giraffes Endangered Species Act protections would be a giant step in the fight to save them from extinction.” The petition adds that there are actually fewer giraffes than elephants in the Africa in its petition to protect the [tallest land animal.](http://time.com/4339778/giraffe-long-neck/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4750296/giraffes-endangered-list/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4750296/giraffes-endangered-list/"},"headline":"Advocates Really Want Giraffes to Be Included on the Endangered Species List","datePublished":"2017-04-21T16:22:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:32:39.307Z","description":"Giraffes were classified as \"vulnerable\" in 2016","url":"https://time.com/4750296/giraffes-endangered-list/","keywords":["animals","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b2a7304222d830/6988c3f3656a3f1116bcfab1/gettyimages-632069124.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lisa Marie Segarra","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b2a7304222d830/6988c3f3656a3f1116bcfab1/gettyimages-632069124.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"giraffes-endangered-petition","caption":"BRITAIN-ANIMAL-GIRAFFE","creditText":"Pal Ellis—Getty/AFP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4750296/giraffes-endangered-list/","name":"Advocates Really Want Giraffes to Be Included on the Endangered Species List"}}]}] ```