Endangered ? We'll Take Care Of You Now, Giraffe

Masai Mara National Reserve

So, I woke up to this news yesterday. The Giraffe will be listed under the endangered species act as per the US Fish and Wildlife service proposal. The news is all over starting from The Guardian, to Business India, First Post, etc, etc.

It’s actually very good news cause something might change now. People have been screaming about the trade in Giraffe skin and trophy parts in the US for ever since I can remember. www.cowhideusa.com is selling a full giraffe’s skin for 3000 USD on its website right now. Its multi level ridiculousness that this is allowed for a non farm animal IMHO. 3K USD goes so far and lasts so long in Africa man. That’s why people kill for it. People over in America have been making covers for their Bibles out of Giraffe skin. Nothing but the most exotic and best for our best I guess. Did it really take that long to see where this was going? Even now, trade in giraffe skin and parts are legal till this comes into effect in the US. Doesn’t matter if the parts and skin of an animal were got legally in the host country or not.

The creation of a demand for supply of something the customer never needed. Now that’s marketing gold. Creating value out of basic materials is all about human ingenuity and an art and I love that magic. What’s needed for this is the creation of the perception of high value and then customer mob mentality takes over, following which there is acceptance as the norm over time. Hey, that’s exactly what I went to learn in business school. We all know this game, yet the poachers successfully played us with it yet again? Really?

The question here is the levels of the set red lines for alarms when it comes to the lives of creatures cause our own lives are codependant. People and organizations have been raging about the Giraffe poaching issue for over 10 years now, much before online shopping was such a thing and much before giraffe memorabilia became such a trend. Why was such an industry allowed to be set up in the first place when it took so long to shut ivory down? It was basically the same supply chain now wasn’t it? Kinda like the cocaine dealer being given a permit to sell ecstacy legally and now we want him to stop because a certain number of kids od’d. Lets just hope that this good news is one that’s deer se aaye lekin durust aaye (Arrived late but arrived strong). Let’s also pray that we don’t wait till a species reaches a critical number before ringing the bell next time cause all those poachers are probably already looking to make the next trend.

A Giraffe portrait was on my must do list for Mara. It happened within a few minutes of reaching the reserve too. On our way to camp, we found this pair who were sitting pretty right by the road (Pics : 1, 6, 7 & 10 ). You need them sitting for a portrait. I didn’t see many sitting throughout the rest of the trip so I like to consider that pair my welcome gift. Interestingly, if these guys are standing, they’re so tall that you’d better shoot em like you do landscapes to get em in focus. I doubt that will happen with many in wildlife. What I learnt about these guys is that just as we turn grey as we get old, they go black as they get older(Pics : 4, 7, 8 & 11). So a Giraffe with black patterns is a senior while one with the standard bright brown / orange coloured patterns is younger. These guys make for amazing silhouettes in the golden Mara mornings which are way easier to shoot than trying to get all of these guys in clear in a long shot (Pics 2 & 3). While I was photographing these guys, I did start to wonder though, if the Giraffe has a role to play in the development of the human female’s high heels. The shoes. Seriously, look at em from behind (Pic : 5 & 12).

Well, now that they’re gonna be treated as endangered, here’s to hoping that numbers will rise again gradually and when they do, those new regulations will ensure continued protection to the tallest among us all. What all will transpire while that happens is going to be interesting to watch as will the reaction of the industry. Such a shame that this took so long though. Sadly, I don’t think any policy changes regarding un endangered species have been made. I’m just a hobbyist but logically shouldn’t there just be one law for all trade in wild animal’s skin and body parts and another for bred and domestic? A blanket NO SALE for unfarmed species technically would make real recreational hunter’s trophies a lot rarer. But then, they can’t even register all the guns, how do we even expect them to register all the kills with the guns? Oh well !