The endangered species is moved to a wildlife preserve to ensure future breeding.
The endangered species is moved to a wildlife preserve to ensure future breeding.
LAKE BARINGO, Kenya — A critically endangered giraffe trapped on a flooded Kenyan rangeland was rescued and transferred to a wildlife conservatory. There, it will be joined by six other giraffes in the coming months.
Asiwa, the endangered Rothschild’s giraffe, was saved by the joint forces of the Kenya Wildlife Service, the U.S.-based nonprofit organization Save Giraffes Now and an African non-government organization on Dec. 2.
Its new home is the Ruko Community Wildlife Conservancy, on the eastern shores of Lake Baringo in Kenya.
Named for London zoologist Lionel Water Rothschild, who first described the giraffe subspecies in the early 1900s, the animal has a lifespan of 20 years. There are less than 3,000 left in Africa, as agricultural development has decimated a once wild population. Some 800 live in Kenya.
Asiwa was stranded on the Longicharo Island, which is becoming an increasingly dangerous place for the giraffes, as rising lake levels flood more of its land.
The giraffe was boarded onto a custom-made steel barge designed specifically to carry the tall, heavy animal, which then traveled about four miles to its 4,400-acre sanctuary within the 44,000-acre conservatory.
Apart from Asiwa’s move, another giraffe, a juvenile named Pasaka, was also floated to the Ruko Community Wildlife Conservancy the next day.
There are six remaining giraffes on the island, which include five females, Susan, Nkarikoni (currently pregnant), Nalangu, Awala and Nasieku, and one adult male, Lbarnnoti. All will join Asiwa and Pasaka in the next few months.
“There is great urgency to execute this rescue, we couldn’t have asked for a better result, and we’re eager to move the others soon,” David O’Connor, president of Save Giraffes Now, said in a statement. “With giraffes undergoing a ‘silent extinction,’ every one we can protect matters.”
The giraffes are also facing challenges in breeding.
Out of eight calves that have been born recently, just two have survived while the others are believed to have been lost to pythons, nutritional deficiencies and other natural causes.
The Rothschild’s (Nubian) giraffe is a subspecies of the Northern giraffe, which once roamed the Western Rift Valley in Kenya and Uganda.
“In 40 to 50 years, we hope to have repopulated the entire Western Rift Valley through the chain of community conservancies,” O’Connor added. “It’s unthinkable to imagine an Africa without giraffes, and this rescue may well help ensure the future of this species.”
In a trial run for Asiwa’s move, several other animals were also relocated to Ruko, including two aggressive ostriches, a few impala and warthogs.
(Edited by Fern Siegel and Matthew B Hall)
