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Minneapolis: US customs agents pooh-poohed the plans of an Iowa woman who wanted to make jewellery from giraffe faeces that she picked up on a trip to Kenya and brought back to the US in her luggage.

The woman declared the box of faeces when she was asked to have her belongings inspected upon arriving at Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport on September 29, according to US Customs and Border Protection.

The woman, who was not identified, told officials that she planned to use the waste to make a necklace, as she had done in the past with moose droppings.

A small box of giraffe faeces that was confiscated from a passenger arriving from Kenya at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.Credit: Customs/AP

Giraffe poo can be brought back to the US with the proper permits and inspections, according to Minnesota Public Radio. The station reported that the woman wouldn’t face sanctions because she declared the cargo and gave it to Customs.

The agency’s agriculture specialists destroyed the giraffe droppings.

“There is a real danger with bringing faecal matter into the US,” Customs and Border Protection’s Chicago field director LaFonda Sutton-Burke said in a statement.

An Iowa woman wanted to bring into the US giraffe faeces she found on a trip to KenyaCredit: Shutterstock

“If this person had entered the US and had not declared these items, there is a high possibility that a person could have contracted a disease from this jewellery and developed serious health issues.”

African swine fever, classic swine fever, Newcastle disease, foot-and-mouth disease and swine vesicular disease are among the ailments in Kenya that Customs cited as risks.

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