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Why is it common practice not to eat Giraffe Meat?

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Guessing, which is why this is a comment, not an answer: Wouldn't the laws about slaughter and the draining of blood be somewhat difficult to apply to a giraffe? – TRiG Aug 31 '12 at 18:27

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As By: Rabbi Ari Z. Zivotofsky Ph.D. explains in detail, there is no reason why not to eat Giraffe meat from a Halachic point of view.

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So as to "why it's not common practice", economics from one perspective or another; plus potentially those who are still halachically nervous -- again, that's economics. – Shalom Jul 23 '10 at 11:50
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There are two answers that people say they are both off. The place for Shechting is known it and it is huge. The other answer is there is no market for it put that could be solved with some good marketing (Just look at Sushi).The real answer is to eat something we need a Mesorah that it is Kosher.The Remah says it about birds in Yoreh Deah 82:3. The Chazan Ish(Yoreh Deah 11:4-5) and the Chochmas Adam(36:1) extends this to all animals. Therefore the real reason we don't eat is because we have no Mesorah for it.

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It's debated whether the Chochmas Adam means you need a tradition that a mammal is kosher, or simply a tradition whether it's treated as "wild" or "domestic." – Shalom Jul 4 '10 at 20:44
For an informative article about this topic: kashrut.com/articles/giraffe – Dave Jul 16 '10 at 16:10
Shulchan Halevi brings mesorah into account. – sam Apr 24 at 2:47
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There is another reason: giraffes are very expensive, and very likely to be found a teraifah, so it is not worth it, and also tza'ar baalei chaim to kill it if it will probably not be kosher.

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Just because it will probably be a t'reifah does not make it tzar baalei haim to kill it if you want to eat it. – Yahu Jul 5 '10 at 3:09
Even if it's רובא דמינכר that it will be treifah? I'm not so sure about that. – Alex Jul 5 '10 at 14:03
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The Noda Bihuda said that game hunting did not violate the specific prohibition of tzaar baalei chayim per se, as the intent was to kill the animal as directly as possible. Tzaar baalei chayim is about tormenting animals. But I agree that the economics don't add up. – Shalom Jul 6 '10 at 14:25
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I think that Noda Byehuda has been mentioned on these Boards more than any other teshuvah. – SimchasTorah Jul 22 '10 at 22:36
Can you source this statistic? – Double AA♦ Sep 4 '12 at 19:27
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Another possibility is that it's quite dangerous -- a giraffe can kill a lion with its kick!

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Because giraffes are an endangered species, and we'd get in trouble if we started killing them.

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Michael Kopinsky, Welcome to mi.yodeya, and thanks for the out-of-the-box answer! Please consider clicking register, above, to create your account. This will give you access to all of mi.yodeya's features and will allow you to take full credit for your contributions. – Isaac Moses Jul 22 '10 at 16:34
It's not out of the box. It's just a redirection of the pointer 'we' in the question. – WAF Jul 22 '10 at 21:49
Point taken WAF – SimchasTorah Jul 22 '10 at 22:37
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WAF, I submit that what you say it is is a special case of what you say it isn't. – Isaac Moses Jul 23 '10 at 1:41
The pointer has been rendered moot. – WAF Jul 23 '10 at 2:10

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