Giraffe is Kosher?

[richlevy]

Ok, you can definitely find some odd things on the Internet. I was following the link to the pastry definition, found ghee mentioned, which I've seen in Indian grocery stores, went looking at a cooking site for recipes using ghee, and found a link to this.

According to a report in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, vets were asked to treat an adult, female giraffe at Israel's largest zoo, the Safari Park in Ramat Gan.
The team, led by Professor Zohar Amar, took a routine sample of milk and found that it clotted in the way required by Jewish law for kosher certification.
They submitted more milk for verification by the rabbinical authorities and the paper reported that a ruling was made that giraffe meat and milk are acceptable for observant Jews.

I have been through years of Hebrew school and never heard anything about clotting. I do know that cloven hoofs and cud-chewing are requirements. Wiki has a nice article on Kosher Foods.

"But this is what you shall not eat from among those that bring up their cud or that have split hooves; the camel, for it brings up its cud, but its hoof is not split— it is unclean to you; and the hyrax, for it brings up its cud, but its hoof is not split— it is unclean to you;and the hare, for it brings up its cud, but its hoof is not split— it is unclean to you; and the pig, for its hoof is split and its hoof is completely separated, yet it does not chew its cud— it is unclean to you. You shall not eat of their flesh nor shall you touch their carcass— they are unclean to you."

—Leviticus 11:4-8

I also found to my surprise that one insect, a single debated species of locust (scholars do not agree on which one) is kosher. This may have been a form of pragmatism since if locusts destroy crops, all that is left to eat would be the locusts.

Still, I doubt we'll be seeing Hebrew National Giraffe Dogs anytime soon.

BTW, I found a ghee recipe.