Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/giraffe-island-rescue/

Giraffes are such majestic animals. They are also a dwindling species that have been greatly affected by such threats such as natural habitat loss and poaching. But for some giraffes living on an island in Kenya’s Lake Baringo, there is another obstacle to overcome: flooding.

Three giraffe conservation groups – Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Save Giraffes Now, and the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) – are coming together to help save the eight Rothschild’s giraffes stranded on the island that is now facing flooding.

The three groups – one which is a Kenyan state wildlife organization, the second which is a U.S. nonprofit, and the third is a non-government African conservation group – have all taken action to safely evacuate the eight giraffes off their dwindling patch of land. Because of recent heavy rains, the water in the lake has risen as high as 6 inches every day and the giraffes have now become cut off from their natural resources.

These stranded giraffes are part of the Rothschild giraffes who were relocated to the area back in 2011 in a conservation effort to protect them from poachers. Conservationists were hoping this would help them to increase their numbers. The Rothschild’s giraffes were once quite populous in the whole western Rift Valley in Kenya. However, today there are fewer than 3,000 Rothschild’s giraffes in the whole of Africa today – and there are only 800 of these giraffes left in Kenya.

Now with the recent flooding, the KWS, Save Giraffes Now, and NRT have been hard at work over the span of two days and counting trying to get all the stranded giraffes off the island and over to sanctuary in the Ruko Community Wildlife Conservancy. As Save Giraffes Now has shared, according to PEOPLE, the Ruko Community Wildlife Conservancy is a protected wildlife reserve, so they’ll hopefully be safe.

The first giraffe to arrive at the protected area was Asiwa, an adult female. She had been stranded in an area away from the other giraffes which meant that getting her off the island was top priority. As PEOPLE shared, the president of the Dallas, Texas-based Save Giraffes Now group, David O’Connor, stated, “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. With giraffes undergoing a silent extinction, every one we can protect matters.”

After Asiwa, the second giraffe to be rescued was a juvenile named Pasaka. Just like Asiwa, this little giraffe made the trip to the conservation area through a custom steel barge which was built by the local Ruko community in a effort to help rescue the animals.

The Save Giraffes Now shared that the barge was “an engineering marvel.” They explained how it works, noting that the “rectangular steel structure floats atop a series of empty drums, for buoyancy.” They also noted that it was a custom design, meaning that it was built with the giraffes in mind. And that is why the sides were reinforced in order to keep any scared giraffes from potentially trying to jump out and escape as it made the four-mile boat trip down the waterway.

There are still six stranded giraffes in need of rescuing – five females, named Susan, Nkarikoni, Nalangu, Awala, and Nasieku, as well as one adult male. named Lbarnnoti. The same barge will most likely be used to rescue all the remaining giraffes, an effort that could extend into next year.

Some might be wondering why such a rescue mission could take so long, but as PEOPLE shared, Susan Myers, Save Giraffes Now’s founder and CEO, explained that it is all due to the giraffes’ different personalities. As Myers stated, “Some are very timid, while others are brave and go onto the barge readily. This is a painstaking process, and the team is being very deliberate about the training.”

Save Giraffes Now has stated that all those who are involved in the rescue efforts of Asiwa and Pasaka are onboard to see the rescue of each and every stranded giraffe. They are also not solely concerned with the giraffes of the island but giraffes on a major conservation scale. These are long-term goals for the three conservation groups. And we can only applaud their dedication and unwavering commitment to preserving these majestic animals.

Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog