MINNEAPOLIS — Federal customs agents dismissed the plans of an Iowa woman who wanted to create jewelry from giraffe feces she obtained during a trip to Kenya and brought back to the U.S. in her luggage.
The woman declared the small box of feces when she was chosen for a luggage inspection upon her arrival at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport on Sept. 29, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The woman, who was not identified, informed officials that she planned to use the waste to make a necklace, as she had done in the past with moose feces.
Giraffe poop can be brought back to the U.S. with the appropriate permits and inspections, according to Minnesota Public Radio. The station reported that the woman won’t face any penalties because she declared the feces and handed it over to Customs.
The agency’s agriculture specialists destroyed the giraffe feces.
“There is a real danger with bringing fecal matter into the U.S.,” Customs and Border Protection’s Chicago Field Director LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke said in a statement. “If this person had entered the U.S. without declaring these items, there is a high possibility that a person could have contracted a disease from this jewelry and developed serious health issues.”
African swine fever, classical swine fever, Newcastle disease, foot-and-mouth disease, and swine vesicular disease are among the diseases in Kenya that Customs mentioned as risks.
