Why is this rare giraffe almost extinct?

With only 38 Kordofan giraffes remaining, conservationists are asking President Obama to donate funding and supplies. 

|
Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters
Giraffe gather at a water hole in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, August 2, 2015.

Only 38 Kordofan giraffes remain alive today. 

Originally ranging through Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and Sudan, the remaining Kordofans are now sequestered in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Garamba National Park. Approximately 350 Kordofans roamed the DRC only 20 years ago, but the numbers plunged to 86 by 2003 and then decreased to only 38 in 2016. 

Local poachers are said to be responsible for depleting the once prolific populations. 

A single giraffe can produce up to 660 pounds of meat, and priced at 30 pounds per pound, one giraffe can produce quite a paycheck. Especially in a country where the gross domestic product per capita measured $231.51 in 2012 – the worst in the world. And the skin of the Kordofan giraffe has distinctive spots, typically fetching a higher price tag on the luxury goods market.  

“At the moment the ratio is one male to 2.4 females, which is still sustainable,” Aime Balimbaki, the head of research and monitoring at Garamba National Park, tells the Sunday Express. “But if we have bad luck or if there is a serious menace – even if we lose just five giraffes – then the population may no longer be viable.” 

As of Sunday, a petition to President Barack Obama titled “Save the Last 38 Giraffes in Congo” had received over 28,400 signatures. 

“[The Congo’s] government likely cannot take on the additional expense of saving the last of its giraffes,” reads the petition. “They need other nations to step up and provide conservationists with the money for better security against poachers, tracking collars, and other equipment they might need to track these wandering animals. The United States often helps other nations in times of need.”

Wildlife advocates hope the petition will raise awareness about the giraffes’ shrinking population. 

“It is heartbreaking that this has not gained the media attention it so deserves,” says the UK-based charity Spots and Stripes. “To have a population of only 38 giraffes remaining in the Congo is a disaster for both the species and for conservation.” 

And just because the remaining giraffes are under Garamba’s protection doesn’t mean they are safe, explain conservationists. 

“[The petition’s] call-to-action contends that Congo is under extreme financial and political distress from caring for the many refugees ‘pouring in from South Sudan,’ and does not have the means to safeguard the remaining 38 giraffes from extinction,” explains EnviroNews. Garamba was already a resource-deprived park, but the petition’s authors say hungry Sudanese refugees wouldn’t think twice about killing a giraffe for its flavorful meat.

And human-induced landscape changes have forced giraffes to roam far and wide to find an adequate food supply, especially in a national park that measures almost 2,000 square-miles. The petition asks President Obama to fund tracking collars for the remaining 38 giraffes, in addition to salary pay so more park staff can be hired to protect the giraffes against both locals and Sudanese refugees. 

“This is one of the most trouble-ridden parts of Africa,” Chris Thouless of Save the Elephants told CTV News, referencing Africa’s second-oldest national park. “Simply, Garamba’s survival is an absolute miracle.” 

Despite the park’s warring neighbors, hungry poachers, and funding needs, the non-profit organization African Parks that took over Garamba’s management in 2005, continues to fight for a brighter future for Garamba and its residents. 

Erik Marav, 30-year manager of Garamba, says of the park: “It’s such a special area in such an unlikely place.”

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Why is this rare giraffe almost extinct?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2016/0228/Why-is-this-rare-giraffe-almost-extinct
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe