Standing tall for giraffes
21 June – World Giraffe Day
Did you know that giraffes are in trouble? Only 117 000 giraffes remain in Africa. Giraffes have already become extinct in at least seven countries in Africa. So, the time to act is now!The good news is that through dedicated conservation efforts, the tide is slowly turning. In most populations, giraffe numbers are stabilising and in some, they are even rising.
When the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) initiated World Giraffe Day in 2014, the intention was to raise awareness of the giraffe’s plight in Africa and to gather support for their conservation. Ever since, they have been celebrating the tallest and most iconic animal on 21 June, the longest day (or night, depending on which hemisphere you live in) of the year.
Spearheaded by GCF, World Giraffe Day has developed into a global celebratory movement that involves local communities, African governments, conservation organisations, zoos, wildlife enthusiasts, and concerned individuals worldwide, who all join forces to advocate for the preservation of these majestic animals. World Giraffe Day is a crucial platform that highlights the challenges that giraffe face, cultivates a sense of responsibility towards their conservation, and galvanizes support for their protection.
“While celebrating with everyone, we at GCF also continue to focus on conservation actions,” says Stephanie Fennessy, Executive Director of the GCF from their base in Windhoek, Namibia.
“Under the overarching theme ‘Join our journey and help them to make theirs!’, World Giraffe Day 2023 raises awareness of and hopefully the much-needed funds for returning giraffes to their historical habitat where they can once again thrive.”
Rewilding
During the past decade, the GCF in collaboration with African and international partners, has rewilded giraffes back to their former key landscapes. From Uganda’s vast Pian Upe Game Reserve to Namibia’s northwest communal conservancies, and Malawi’s Majete Wildlife Reserve to the Sahel’s Gadabedji Biosphere Reserve in Niger, GCF has been instrumental in increasing the giraffe range across the continent.
New plans for 2023 include returning giraffes to their former habitats in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and Uganda.
Earlier this month, GCF, together with the Namibian Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT), Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) and Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC), moved four Angolan giraffes, which were donated by the Etosha Heights Private Reserve in central Namibia, to the Ongongo and Otjiu-West communal conservancies in north-western Namibia.
On arrival, the local community members welcomed the new giraffe and pledged their commitment to their protection.
“This operation was an amazing collaboration of many Namibian and international partners. Partnerships and collaboration are immensely important for successful conservation actions. A private landowner donated the four giraffes, with the vision of them repopulating the vast communal lands of northwest Namibia. The operation was made possible by international donations and put into action with the help of the MEFT game capture unit. When the four giraffes stepped out of the truck, seeing the joy on the local community members’ faces was incomparable,” Fennessy says.
Training exercise
The GCF used this rehoming operation as a training exercise for eight young African wildlife veterinarians from the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia. As part of a ten-day wildlife immobilisation course, which was funded and organised by GCF and held at the Etosha Heights Private Reserve in collaboration with the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Namibia, these young veterinarians gained hands-on experience in giraffe immobilization, capture, and translocation as well as the immobilisation of several other wildlife species on the reserve.
Join the GCF on 21 June to stand tall for giraffes and unite commitments to preserving and safeguarding their future.