Nature

Mother And Calf Who Are The Last Of Nine Stranded Giraffes Are Rescued From Kenyan Island

Northern Rangeland Trust/Clipzilla

Nine critically endangered Rothschild’s giraffes have been rescued after they were isolated by heavy rains that turned the land they were standing on into an island.

Water levels in Lake Baringo have been rising for some time, but in 2020 the rate increased – flooding lakeshore homes, businesses, and threatening the lives of the small group of Rothschild’s giraffe on Longicharo Island, in Ruko Community Conservancy.

Conservation is had been working round the clock for more than a year to rescue them and now the last two, a mother and calf, had been the final pair to be rescued from the island in Lake Baringo in Kenya


Northern Rangeland Trust/Clipzilla

The rescuers constructed a special steel barge in order to carry the giraffes to safety and sanctuary a mile away and now with the transfer of the calf named Noelle and her mother Ngarikoni all of the animals

The rescue project took on even greater urgently recently as the island space continue to sync with the water levels rising, and involve creating a specially made barge (named “The GiRaft”) in order to transport them safely.

The giraffes have now been moved to a 4,400-acre sanctuary on the mainland.

Northern Rangeland Trust/Clipzilla

David O’Connor, president of Save Giraffes Now, which works on over 20 giraffe conservation projects in nine African countries said: “We felt a great sense of urgency to complete this rescue.

“With giraffe undergoing a silent extinction, every one we can protect matters, making this rescue an important step in supporting the survival of this species.”

Park rangers had to lose the animals onto the barge using food that they had grown to like what they were being fed on the island including pellets, acacia leaves, seed pods, and mangos.

Northern Rangeland Trust/Clipzilla

Each time a giraffe joined the barge, it was sealed and they were driven to the 4,400-acre fenced sanctuary within the 44,000-acre Ruko Conservancy.

The towermates (as groups of giraffe are called) are now together again and safely exploring the Ruko Conservancy, where they have plenty of food and more safety.

Approval to move the giraffes also needed to be granted by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) for it to go ahead in the first giraffe named Asiwa was moved in December without incident.

Northern Rangeland Trust/Clipzilla

Rothschild’s (Nubian) giraffe are a dwindling subspecies of the Northern giraffe that once roamed the entire western Rift Valley in Kenya and into Uganda. Today, fewer than 3,000 are left in Africa, with only about 800 in Kenya.

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