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Published image, CONSERVATION OF THE ISHAQBINI HIROLA COMMUNITY
The white color of a giraffe is the result of a rare genetic disorder that causes pigments to completely disappear from the skin
Kenyan authorities have provided the world’s last white giraffe with a GPS tracking device, to protect it from poachers in northern Kenya, environmentalists say.
A conservation group in Kenya said rangers at a Kenyan nature reserve will be able to observe the giraffe, which is the last of the white type in the world, and that they can know its location at any time.
The white color of the giraffe is the result of a rare genetic condition that results in the loss of all pigments in the skin, leaving only the white color.
This last male of the white species lives alone in the reserve after poachers killed a female and her baby last March.
Authorities have found Givti, the female, and her baby in a private reserve in Garissa County, northeast Kenya, where the man currently lives alone.
Environmental Protection Organization Isaac Benny Hirola, which oversees wildlife in the area, said the tracking device was placed on the horn of a male giraffe on November 8.
The nonprofit said in a statement Tuesday that the tracking device will provide updates on the giraffe’s location and extent of its presence almost hourly, allowing rangers to “keep track of it. unique animal safe from poachers “.
The organization’s director, Mohamed Ahmed Al-Nur, thanked environmentalists for their help in protecting the giraffe and other wildlife.
“The giraffe grazing area recently received torrential rains and the abundant plants bode well for the future of the white male,” he said.
The Kenya Wildlife Society, the main conservation agency in the East African country, said it was happy to help with efforts to protect “unique species like the only known white giraffe.”
White giraffes were first spotted in Kenya in March 2016, around two months after being seen in neighboring Tanzania.
Barely a year later, the white giraffes have once again gained worldwide attention and made headlines, after cameras caught the mother and baby grazing in the Kenyan province reserve. by Garissa.
Giraffes are among the largest mammals in the world, and this white species lived in around 15 countries on the African continent alone.
However, there is a constant hunt for giraffes by poachers, who search for their skin, meat and body parts.
About 40 percent of the world’s giraffe population has disappeared over the past 30 years, due to illegal hunting and trafficking in wildlife, according to the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF).
These animals have been classified as threatened species on the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and their worldwide number is estimated at 68,293 animals in the world.
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