The poaching crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is not only affecting elephants. The giraffe population has now plunged to only 38, putting the species at immediate risk of extinction there, new surveys have revealed. Sadly, giraffes in the Congo are not alone. Poaching has become a major problem for the animals wherever they are living. Their numbers throughout Africa have dropped by more than 40 percent over the past 15 years. The entire subspecies is at risk of extinction. Take Part reports: The Congo’s giraffes all live within Garamba National Park, a 1,930-square-mile UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park, which is run by nonprofit organization African Parks, held more than 350 giraffes two decades ago. Most of those animals were killed during the country’s 1998–2003 civil war, leaving just 86 giraffes afterward. Many of those remaining giraffes have now been lost to poachers. Park officials have warned that if they lose just five more giraffes, the population may no longer be sustainable on its own. “Giraffes—like elephants, rhinos, and the like—have been picked off by poachers to feed the illegal wildlife trade and impoverished local people,” said Noëlle Kümpel, cochair of the SSC Giraffe and Okapi Specialist [...]