The unique male [white] giraffe now stands alone after a female and her calf were killed by poachers in March.
[A] GPS tracking device, secured to one of the animal’s horns, will give hourly updates of his location, said the Ishaqbini Hirola Community Conservancy in a press release on [November 17].Rangers will be able to monitor the giraffe’s movements in the conservancy located in Garissa County, eastern Kenya.
“The giraffe’s grazing range has been blessed with good rains in the recent past and the abundant vegetation bodes well for the future of the white male,” said Ahmed Noor, manager of the Ishaqbini Hirola Community Conservancy.
Noor thanked the Kenya Wildlife Service, Save Giraffes Now and the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) for their help in safeguarding wildlife species.
“Our mission is to work with communities, enable them [to] be resilient, secure their livelihoods as well as protect the unique wildlife like the only known white giraffe,” said Antony Wandera, senior wildlife monitoring officer at the NRT.
The male giraffe has a rare genetic trait called leucism, which results in the partial loss of pigmentation in an animal and makes it easy to spot for poachers on the arid savannah.
