Virginia Woman Stopped At Airport For Carrying Giraffe And Zebra Bones As Souvenirs From Kenya

A woman was stopped by security personnel at Washington Dulles International Airport for trying to bring giraffe and zebra bones back to the US from Kenya, according to a report by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The bones were found during a secondary baggage examination and the woman told the authorities that she found the bones in Kenya and kept them as souvenirs.

The CBP did not release the name of the woman because she was not criminally charged. She initially reffered to a secondary agriculture examination for declaring that she possessed a small Acacia tree twig. She then amended her declaration to include the bones after CBP agriculture specialists x-rayed her baggage and discovered an anomaly. The Acacia tree twig was admissible. CBP released the woman after agriculture specialists detained the bones, reported CBP.

On November 17, Fish and Wildlife Service inspectors said that the bones violated provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the Lacey Act. USFWS directed CBP to seize the bones.

CBP official Christopher Brewer told Fox 5 DC that security officials have seized everything from charred bat meat to a stew containing iguana eggs.

"About two years ago, one of our officers notified us that they had a passenger that had a baboon skull," Brewer told the local news outlet. "We've had whole sides of cows literally shoved into big canvas bags... the smells are interesting sometimes of the stuff we encounter."