AUGUST 22, 2019 / 3:28 PM / UPDATED 5 MINUTES AGO  CITES Stephanie Nebehay
3 MIN READ

GENEVA (Reuters) – Countries voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to regulate international trade in giraffes, an endangered species, and in their body parts, overcoming objections by southern African states and drawing praise from conservationists.

FILE PHOTO: Giraffes are seen in Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, August 3, 2019 REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic/File Photo The provisional decision, taken in a key committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), is expected to be endorsed at a plenary next week, officials said. The requirements would come into force 30 days later.

“The giraffe is in the wild much rarer than African elephants, much rarer,” Tom De Meulenaer, CITES’ scientific services chief, told a news briefing before the vote.

“We are talking about a few tens of thousands of giraffes, and talk about a few hundreds…