West African Giraffe is Clearly at a Verge of Extinction

The West African giraffe, Niger giraffe or Nigerien giraffe known to be a subspecies of the giraffe distinguished by its light brown colored spots, which is found in the Sahel regions of West Africa.  In 2011, this subspecies only survives in a few limited areas those too containing about 400 individuals in total. It was last found in groups in southwest Niger, supported by a series of refuges in Dosso Region, and the tourist center at Kouré, some 80 km southeast of Niamey. That in July 2017, The Sahara Conservation Fund has joined forces with the Giraffe Conservation Foundation in Niger to work on a new Giraffe conservation project.

The main objective of the project is to offer better living conditions to the last available population of West African Giraffes and ensure their long-term survival. This small population of barely 600 individuals lives in Niger in the South of the country, where it is threatened with habitat loss and degradation. The project aims to basically relocate the giraffes from their current site the area of Kouré, some 80 km Southeast of Niamey to a new one, the Gadabeji Game Reserve, in central Niger. There are few animals that still live freely in the so-called "giraffe zone" also encounter demographic pressure and the spread of agriculture, which threatens their habitat and force them into increasing conflict with people. For lack of natural food, they are occasionally forced to raid gardens and fields, robbing the farmers of their cow peas and mangos. Competition between giraffes and livestock can also be observed sometimes. This worrying situation has already lead the Government of Niger to develop a Niger National Giraffe Conservation Strategy, the first of its kind. SCF and GCF provide financial and technical support to the Niger Government to help implement the strategy. The National Giraffe Conservation Strategy was updated in 2015 during a regional workshop. However it is on this occasion that the Gadabeji Game Reserve was deemed to be a suitable site, considering both the historical range of the giraffe and the good management of this protected area. Further results of the census revealed an increase of about 11.70 % of the giraffe population in the area since the last 2016 survey, which seems to be a very encouraging outcome. The overall group was estimated to be composed of about 607 individuals - 325 females and 291 males.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-46442570?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/clm1wxp533pt/animals&link_location=live-reporting-story