A woman tried to bring giraffe poop from Kenya back to the US to make a necklace, but was stopped at a Minnesota airport. An official said foreign fecal matter is a 'real danger.'

06.10.2023 - 16:43 / insider.com

A traveler had her hopes of making a necklace out of giraffe poop dashed when she tried to bring the animal feces into the United States from Kenya but was stopped by customs agents, officials said.

Federal officials seized the woman's small box of giraffe poop after she arrived at Minnesota's Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport from the East African country on September 29.

US Customs and Border Protection said in a press release on Thursday that the woman had declared the giraffe feces and "stated she had obtained the droppings in Kenya and planned to make a necklace."

"The passenger also stated in the past, she had used moose feces at her home in Iowa," the federal law enforcement agency added.

This led to an inspection by Customs and Border Protection's agriculture specialists, who then took the box of animal excrement and had it "destroyed" using steam sterilization as per protocol by the US Department of Agriculture.

Customs and Border Protection's Chicago field office director LaFonda Sutton-Burke said in a statement: "There is a real danger with bringing fecal matter into the US."

Sutton-Burke said that had the woman entered the US and not declared that she had the giraffe poop with her, "There is high possibility a person could have contracted a disease from this jewelry and developed serious health issues."

The federal agency noted that Kenya is affected by African swine fever, classical swine fever, Newcastle disease, foot and mouth disease, and swine vesicular disease.

CBP spokesman Steven Bansbach told Insider that the passenger who tried to bring the Kenyan giraffe poop to the US is not facing any penalties because she declared it on arrival. 

"She was told why the item was not allowed and was released," Bansbach said. 

According to CBP, a Veterinary Services Permit is required for any feces to make its way into the US. 

CBP Area Port Director-Minnesota Augustine Moore said that the agency's agriculture specialists work to "mitigate the threat of non-native pests, diseases, and contaminants entering the United States."

"CBP agriculture specialists have extensive training and experience in the biological and agriculture sciences, they inspect travelers and cargo arriving in the United States by air, land, and seaports of entry," Moore said.