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World Giraffe Day Kicks Off At Six Flags In Vallejo

VALLEJO (CBS SF) -- The first-ever World Giraffe Day kicked off at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Saturday.

For 2 days, the theme park will work to bring awareness to the plight of wild giraffe in Africa, where giraffe populations there are dwindling at an alarming rate.

The park's Giraffe Encounter exhibit area has interactive activities, trainer talks, and special feeding times for the public to see.

Giraffe were treated to an assortment of enrichment devices – toys and puzzles stuffed with carrots, hay and other produce – assembled by park guests as part of activities in celebration of the occasion.

The park was also collecting jeans on behalf of Jeans for Giraffes, an organization dedicated to giraffe conservation. The denim will be recycled and the money raised will go to giraffe research and programs to protect giraffe populations in Africa.

Currently there are only 80,000 individual giraffe still found in Africa. This includes all individuals within the nine subspecies of giraffe, two of which are critically endangered.

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